Decoder with Nilay Patel · Saturday, September 19, 2026
Jonathan Kanter discusses the motivations behind major AI companies calling for a slowdown in AI development. He presents both the generous interpretation that they fear the existential risks of AI and the more cynical view that they are trying to manage their finances and valuations ahead of potential IPOs.
“So, the most generous is, they are afraid of the pace of innovation and lack of regulation, and they don't see any lines on the road, they don't know where to drive, and they're worried about driving off the road or hitting somebody else. And so they're begging for the government to step in and do something. Um, that's, that's probably a Molierean, uh, amount of truth to that.”
“The more cynical is, they're spending so much money, they're hemorrhaging cash, and they can't keep this up, but if they pull back, it's going to affect their valuation as part of the IPO. So they would like somebody to give them all permission to stop spending so much money and slow the pace of innovation so that they can figure out their economics before they go public.”
“Does an agreement among all the top players and the field like this, automatically form a cartel? This is the, on that cynical side of the interpretation, there's a lot of, you just want regulatory capture, you want to make a cartel, you want to foreclose competition.”