Dorsey Joins AI Pacing Debate as Block's Open-Source Stance Comes Under Scrutiny

Block's CEO Jack Dorsey has joined the debate over how fast to develop frontier AI, backing open-source approaches.

Dorsey argues that the industry should be more transparent and allow outsiders to reproduce results, expose failures, and build alternatives without needing government or top companies' approval.

This stance is reflected in Block's focus on building open-source AI products, including its Goose agent and Buzz workspace, which are designed to be customizable and free from centralized control.

However, Dorsey's views contradict those of Anthropic's CEO Dario Amodei, who has suggested introducing third-party evaluators and government-backed coordination among AI firms to pace the development of frontier AI.

The proposed restrictions could potentially slow down Block's development and impact its customers and investors, as well as affect the adoption of agentic Bitcoin payments enabled by the L402 protocol.