AI Safety Is Having a Moment

Derek Thompson · 10 Sept 2026

Derek Thompson did not write this page.

Every claim below was made in this piece, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.

Our reading
AI industry leaders publicly call for slowing AI development while continuing to accelerate it themselves.

Their wordsJudging by their words, AI luminaries are begging the world to force them to hit the brakes. Judging by their work, these same people are pressing down on the accelerator with every fiber of their being.

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