AI Safety Fears Spark Debate Over Pace of Development Amid Higher Oil Prices

The AI safety debate has reached a fever pitch after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called for slowing down the development of artificial intelligence models. In an essay, Amodei proposed a three-step plan to pace the progress without sacrificing commercial advantage or the US's lead in AI.

Amodei's proposal drew support from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Elon Musk, who acknowledged the need for caution. However, this move creates a balancing act for Anthropic as it approaches a potentially historic IPO.

Later on Saturday, Altman ruled out an IPO for OpenAI this year, citing that going public at the moment was 'ill-advised'. Meanwhile, lawmakers in Washington are racing to figure out whether and how the industry should be regulated.

The development comes as Nasdaq 100 futures fell more than 1% this morning due to AI-linked stocks sliding. The closure of a key pipeline by Saudi Arabia also contributed to higher crude oil prices, with U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures rising by over 3% and Brent crude futures increasing by the same amount.