Anthropic, OpenAI, xAI, Google sued over pact to slow AI

A proposed class-action lawsuit accuses Anthropic, OpenAI, SpaceXAI (xAI), and Google of agreeing to deliberately slow AI development under the guise of safety. The lead counsel calls the arrangement a "self-serving" deal among the industry's most powerful for-profit companies rather than a genuine safety measure, and says it has been in motion for months.

Why it matters: This directly targets the recent wave of "pace of development" pledges, including Dario Amodei's proposal to slow frontier AI progress, by reframing voluntary safety coordination as potential antitrust collusion. If courts take the theory seriously, it could chill future cross-company safety agreements, since labs may fear that any joint restraint invites litigation regardless of intent.