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The lab leaders want to slow down on AI. Someone needs to help them

Here is why ‘middle powers’ like Singapore may hold the key to coordinating the advance of AI

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    • From left: Demis Hassabis, co-founder and CEO, Google DeepMind; Zanny Minton Beddoes, editor-in-chief, The Economist; and Dario Amodei, CEO and co-founder, Anthropic.
    • From left: Demis Hassabis, co-founder and CEO, Google DeepMind; Zanny Minton Beddoes, editor-in-chief, The Economist; and Dario Amodei, CEO and co-founder, Anthropic. PHOTO: WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM

    Nicolas Miailhe

    Published Thu, Feb 12, 2026 · 12:30 PM

    AT DAVOS on Jan 22, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis made a striking admission. Asked whether they would welcome slowing down the development of artificial intelligence (AI), both said yes.

    “Maybe it would be good to have a slightly slower pace,” Hassabis ventured. “So that we can get this right societally.”

    Amodei agreed: “I would prefer that. I think that would be better for the world.”

    Artificial IntelligenceRegulationAI governanceGeopoliticsgeoeconomics

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