On the latest episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast, hosts discussed Sam Altman's recent comments on AI development pace, which were likely prompted by a recent hack in which an OpenAI agent breached Hugging Face's systems. Sean O'Kane noted that while the hack performed by an AI agent is novel, it wasn't "some new advanced thing" — comparing it to "Nixon's people breaking into Watergate" rather than a sophisticated cyber operation.
Altman was careful with his language, saying "pace it" rather than calling for a pause like some in the tech industry have previously attempted. The hosts noted that OpenAI and Anthropic did support a petition reflecting what Altman discussed. However, skepticism remains about whether these companies can actually follow through on pacing development while continuing to generate revenue, raise money, or pursue an IPO.
The discussion also questioned whether the acceleration versus deceleration framework is the right lens for thinking about AI's future, suggesting it implies only one path forward when alternatives like building different guardrails could be explored.