Lawsuit Says Anthropic, OpenAI, SpaceXAI And Google Made Illegal Agreement On AI Slowdown (apnews.com)
(Sunday September 20, 2026 @09:04PM (EditorDavid)
from the see-you-in-court dept.)
- Reference: 0185721530
- News link: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/26/09/20/2152215/lawsuit-says-anthropic-openai-spacexai-and-google-made-illegal-agreement-on-ai-slowdown
- Source link: https://apnews.com/article/antitrust-lawsuit-ai-slowdown-anthropic-openai-spacexai-google-960af4308161eaf4ed13c383b0ce1c1b
[1] Tom's Hardware reports :
> Four plaintiffs subscribed to ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, or Gemini filed a proposed class-action lawsuit alleging that the developers of these AI models violated antitrust laws when they [2]agreed to slow AI development . According to [3]the Associated Press , the lawsuit argues that this agreement would "reduce the value consumers get for paid AI subscriptions" and that this coordination started in July 2026 after the leading AI labs signed a statement admitting there is "intense competitive pressure not to unilaterally slow" development.
>
> The plaintiffs recognize the need for AI development to slow for the sake of safety, but they say that Anthropic founder Dario Amodei's cooperation proposal is a "shortcut" that "substitutes collective restraint for individual accountability." Attorney Nick Rowley, the lead counsel for the plaintiffs, says, "AI will quickly spin out of human control and could kill us all if we allow AI safety and protocol ... to be controlled by private self-serving agreements between the world's most powerful 'for profit' technology companies."
"Representatives for Anthropic, OpenAI, Google and SpaceXAI did not immediately respond..." [4]reports the Associated Press :
> The coordination largely took place on Sept. 12, the lawsuit argues, when Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published an essay [5]urging for industrywide cooperation on decelerating advancements in favor of enhanced safety measures. That same day, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, SpaceXAI CEO Elon Musk and Google DeepMind's co-founder and chair Demis Hassabis each publicly [6]responded to Amodei's proposals in agreement . But the lawsuit also alleges that the coordination began to take shape months earlier. It points to a statement from July 2026 that high-ranking employees from several of the leading AI labs signed that acknowledged the "intense competitive pressure not to unilaterally slow" development. That statement called on the government to support a global effort to slow automated AI development.
Sam Altman even specificially said "we do not believe we need to wait for an antitrust exemption or legislation to begin the work of providing this confidence," [7]notes Tom's Hardware .
> However, the Trump administration shot down this idea... Chinese state media also [8]criticized this announcement , saying that the call to put the brakes on AI development is nothing but a response to Chinese competition, especially as Amodei's essay explicitly mentioned the desire to slow China's progress and widen the U.S.'s gap over Beijing
[1] https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/big-tech/anthropic-openai-spacexai-and-google-face-antitrust-lawsuit-for-agreeing-to-slow-ai-development-plaintiffs-say-plan-has-been-in-motion-for-months-before-calls-agreement-self-serving
[2] https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/anthropic-ceo-warns-of-ai-driven-botnet-swarm-taking-over-the-entire-internet-in-6-12-months-such-a-swarm-could-be-capable-of-taking-over-the-entire-internet-with-a-persistent-botnet
[3] https://apnews.com/article/antitrust-lawsuit-ai-slowdown-anthropic-openai-spacexai-google-960af4308161eaf4ed13c383b0ce1c1b
[4] https://apnews.com/article/antitrust-lawsuit-ai-slowdown-anthropic-openai-spacexai-google-960af4308161eaf4ed13c383b0ce1c1b
[5] https://apnews.com/article/anthropic-ai-dario-amodei-d59552edcb27892d8ee4d98a48397706
[6] https://apnews.com/article/ai-slowdown-anthropic-openai-meta-nvidia-1d9615931af28a83cb97489178e90f2d
[7] https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/big-tech/anthropic-openai-spacexai-and-google-face-antitrust-lawsuit-for-agreeing-to-slow-ai-development-plaintiffs-say-plan-has-been-in-motion-for-months-before-calls-agreement-self-serving
[8] https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/policy/chinese-state-media-counters-dario-amodeis-call-to-put-brakes-on-ai-development-paper-says-move-is-a-response-to-chinese-competition
> Four plaintiffs subscribed to ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, or Gemini filed a proposed class-action lawsuit alleging that the developers of these AI models violated antitrust laws when they [2]agreed to slow AI development . According to [3]the Associated Press , the lawsuit argues that this agreement would "reduce the value consumers get for paid AI subscriptions" and that this coordination started in July 2026 after the leading AI labs signed a statement admitting there is "intense competitive pressure not to unilaterally slow" development.
>
> The plaintiffs recognize the need for AI development to slow for the sake of safety, but they say that Anthropic founder Dario Amodei's cooperation proposal is a "shortcut" that "substitutes collective restraint for individual accountability." Attorney Nick Rowley, the lead counsel for the plaintiffs, says, "AI will quickly spin out of human control and could kill us all if we allow AI safety and protocol ... to be controlled by private self-serving agreements between the world's most powerful 'for profit' technology companies."
"Representatives for Anthropic, OpenAI, Google and SpaceXAI did not immediately respond..." [4]reports the Associated Press :
> The coordination largely took place on Sept. 12, the lawsuit argues, when Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published an essay [5]urging for industrywide cooperation on decelerating advancements in favor of enhanced safety measures. That same day, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, SpaceXAI CEO Elon Musk and Google DeepMind's co-founder and chair Demis Hassabis each publicly [6]responded to Amodei's proposals in agreement . But the lawsuit also alleges that the coordination began to take shape months earlier. It points to a statement from July 2026 that high-ranking employees from several of the leading AI labs signed that acknowledged the "intense competitive pressure not to unilaterally slow" development. That statement called on the government to support a global effort to slow automated AI development.
Sam Altman even specificially said "we do not believe we need to wait for an antitrust exemption or legislation to begin the work of providing this confidence," [7]notes Tom's Hardware .
> However, the Trump administration shot down this idea... Chinese state media also [8]criticized this announcement , saying that the call to put the brakes on AI development is nothing but a response to Chinese competition, especially as Amodei's essay explicitly mentioned the desire to slow China's progress and widen the U.S.'s gap over Beijing
[1] https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/big-tech/anthropic-openai-spacexai-and-google-face-antitrust-lawsuit-for-agreeing-to-slow-ai-development-plaintiffs-say-plan-has-been-in-motion-for-months-before-calls-agreement-self-serving
[2] https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/anthropic-ceo-warns-of-ai-driven-botnet-swarm-taking-over-the-entire-internet-in-6-12-months-such-a-swarm-could-be-capable-of-taking-over-the-entire-internet-with-a-persistent-botnet
[3] https://apnews.com/article/antitrust-lawsuit-ai-slowdown-anthropic-openai-spacexai-google-960af4308161eaf4ed13c383b0ce1c1b
[4] https://apnews.com/article/antitrust-lawsuit-ai-slowdown-anthropic-openai-spacexai-google-960af4308161eaf4ed13c383b0ce1c1b
[5] https://apnews.com/article/anthropic-ai-dario-amodei-d59552edcb27892d8ee4d98a48397706
[6] https://apnews.com/article/ai-slowdown-anthropic-openai-meta-nvidia-1d9615931af28a83cb97489178e90f2d
[7] https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/big-tech/anthropic-openai-spacexai-and-google-face-antitrust-lawsuit-for-agreeing-to-slow-ai-development-plaintiffs-say-plan-has-been-in-motion-for-months-before-calls-agreement-self-serving
[8] https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/policy/chinese-state-media-counters-dario-amodeis-call-to-put-brakes-on-ai-development-paper-says-move-is-a-response-to-chinese-competition
Oh good (Score:2)
by Berkyjay ( 1225604 )
So we'll have precedent to sue the oil companies when the courts rule in favor of Tru.... I mean the "plaintiffs".
I paid for a handbasket license (Score:2)
by SubmergedInTech ( 7710960 )
And they are colluding to slow the speed of my handbasket towards its destination.
the four plaintiffs (Score:1)
by tigerstyle ( 10502925 )
zuck, musk, amodei, and altman
Standing? (Score:1)
In the US, in order to file win a lawsuit, one needs standing [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standing_(law) [wikipedia.org], which essentially means one needs to show one has been harmed by the action in question or one is specifically given permission to sue by a specific law. I'm not a lawyer, but I'm having trouble seeing how the people suing can argue they have enough harm that is a form that matters that they'll be able to persuade a judge they have standing.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standing_(law)
Re: (Score:2)
Trump probably already shopped around for a favorable court.
Re: (Score:2)
"Lawyers representing four named plaintiffs, who pay for subscriptions to ChatGPT, Claude, Grok or Gemini, are bringing the lawsuit on behalf of a proposed nationwide class of other paid subscribers to those services."
In this case it's in the article linked to in the linked article, but it's covered.
From your own Wikipedia article it says:
"The party is granted automatic standing by act of law.[2] For example, under some environmental laws in the United States, a party may sue someone causing pollution to ce
Re: (Score:1)
They'll have trouble proving even 1 cent of harm, since they don't pay for results they pay for access.
You can't sue that your burger could have been better, for example.
Re: (Score:2)
So they are suing for some capability that doesn't exist and wasn't promised anyway. Or was it?
Re: (Score:2)
Or that it's not getting better fast enough might be a better analogy. It's such a strange thing to feel entitled to, I can't think of anything that's getting better.