The AI kill switch, explained: 'It's not too little, but it's probably too late'

The question has echoed around dinner tables and family group texts in recent days as AI doomerism has hit a fever pitch. Former OpenAI and Anthropic researchers last week rocked the world by warning that AI could destroy humanity — and relatively soon. Now, the world's most powerful people are divided on whether the world is doomed or it's all a nothingburger. They also can't agree on a path forward. Elon Musk , the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and the world's richest man, supported the call by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei to pace the developmen t of the most advanced models. Amodei's rival, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, also backed the effort.