Elon Musk publicly agreed with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's call to slow artificial intelligence development, but his companies' massive investments in AI suggest the slowdown may be more rhetorical than real. On September 12, Musk posted on X that "Dario is right" after Amodei published an essay urging the AI industry to decelerate progress in favor of enhanced safety measures. However, Tesla and SpaceX are currently spending heavily on AI infrastructure and have ambitious timelines that appear unchanged.

What Sparked the AI Slowdown Conversation?

Amodei's essay came after a former Anthropic researcher publicly resigned over AI safety concerns, prompting broader discussions in the industry about whether AI development is moving too fast. In his proposal, Amodei wrote that the industry "must slow the pace at which we improve the capabilities of AI models. Progress will still seem fast, and we must make wise use of the time we gain." Musk's quick agreement suggested alignment with this safety-focused perspective, given his long-standing warnings that AI represents the "biggest existential threat" to humanity.

Amodei

The coordination around the slowdown idea has drawn legal scrutiny. A lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on Friday alleges that Anthropic, OpenAI, SpaceXAI, and Google made an illegal agreement to coordinate their AI development pace, potentially violating antitrust laws. The lawsuit argues that such coordination reduces the value consumers receive from paid AI subscriptions like ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, and Gemini.

"AI will quickly spin out of human control and could kill us all if we allow AI safety and protocol to be controlled by private self-serving agreements between the world's most powerful 'for profit' technology companies," said Nick Rowley, lead attorney for the plaintiffs.

Nick Rowley, Lead Attorney for the Plaintiffs

How Might Musk's Agreement Actually Affect His AI Plans?

Despite his public endorsement of slowing AI development, Musk's actual business strategy suggests limited change. Tesla is currently building out a semi-autonomous ride-share network being tested in several U.S. cities and is converting a former factory into a manufacturing plant for its Optimus humanoid robots. SpaceX, which owns Musk's AI company xAI and its Grok chatbot, is planning to launch demonstration models of data center satellites into orbit as early as late 2027.

The financial commitment tells the real story. SpaceX spent $23.5 billion on AI capital expenditures in the first half of 2026 alone, representing nearly 83 percent of its total spending. Musk has stated that Tesla will produce 1 million Optimus robots by 2030, with Grok providing the artificial intelligence that powers those robots. He has also said Tesla could eventually produce 2 million to 3 million self-driving Cybercabs annually.

Steps to Understand the Gap Between Words and Actions

• Regulatory Approach: Musk indicated at an AI summit that government regulation may not be the answer to AI safety concerns, instead preferring that leading AI companies test each other's models and make safety suggestions. This approach differs significantly from Amodei's call for coordinated industry slowdown.
• Timeline Pressure: Tesla's goal to produce 1 million humanoid robots by 2030 and SpaceX's plans to deploy orbital data center satellites by late 2027 require sustained, rapid AI development rather than deceleration.
• Competitive Incentives: With Tesla and SpaceX heavily dependent on AI advancement and facing competition from other companies, there is limited financial incentive for Musk to genuinely slow development, even if he publicly supports the concept.

Musk's comments about agreeing with Amodei may reflect genuine concern about AI safety, but the practical implications for his companies appear minimal. As one analysis noted, Tesla and SpaceX may fall short of their initial roadmaps, but it will likely be because the timelines were overly ambitious to begin with, not because Musk has chosen to decelerate AI development.

The broader antitrust lawsuit raises questions about whether industry leaders can legally coordinate on AI pacing without government mediation. Amodei acknowledged these concerns in his original essay, suggesting that a federal framework or antitrust exemption would be helpful for cross-lab safety discussions. However, the Trump administration has rejected calls for AI regulation, with President Trump claiming that efforts to limit the technology are part of a "conspiracy".

For now, Musk's endorsement of slowing AI development remains a statement of principle rather than a change in business strategy. His companies continue to invest heavily in AI infrastructure and maintain aggressive development timelines, suggesting that the gap between his public rhetoric and private actions may widen as competitive pressures intensify.