Marketplace Tech · Wednesday, September 16, 2026
Prominent AI leaders from companies like Anthropic and OpenAI have recently published calls to slow down the development of advanced AI to allow safety measures to catch up. However, AI futurist Amy Webb argues that these calls may be a way for large companies to create an 'artificial moat,' making it harder for smaller startups to compete.
“The world does not need another manifesto. What we need are for folks to get together and commit to action with accountability.”
“But if you're a startup with 50 people and you are similarly inventing new tools, you just don't have the same kind of resources. So calling for safety measures without actually doing anything to create the circumstances where everybody would be able to participate is not actually addressing the problem.”
“It's it's a way of creating an artificial moat.”