Cathie Wood backs AI leaders' pledge to slow capability advances
Ark Investment Management founder Cathie Wood said the pledge by AI leaders to slow the rapid progression of the technology is a positive step for the industry's development. Her comments follow calls from Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, backed by Elon Musk and Sam Altman, for a slower rate of model cap
SINGAPORE (Sept 15): Global technology investor Cathie Wood, founder of Ark Investment Management, said on Tuesday that the AI leaders' pledge to slow the technology's rapid progression was a positive step to secure and safeguard the industry's development.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called on AI companies over the weekend to slow the rate at which model capabilities were being advanced, amid rising global concerns that the technology is being misused. He was immediately backed by xAI and Tesla founder Elon Musk and OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman.
Global AI stocks slid on Monday as investors weighed the future growth of an industry that had recently helped propel equity markets to record highs. Asian stocks on Tuesday struggled again, as sentiment remained pessimistic towards chip and AI-related stocks.
Wood, who owns Tesla, SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic across Ark's public and private funds, said increased scrutiny of the direction of AI growth was positive for the industry. "Having been in the tech and telecom bubble, which ended in a bust, I'm happy that the leaders of the industry are advertising the risks associated with this new technology," she told reporters in Sydney. "Half of the solution is understanding the problem."
Altman said OpenAI would not go public in 2026, amid safety concerns raised last week when two researchers from Anthropic said there was a rising risk AI could kill humans before the end of the decade. "That's ridiculous," Wood said, referencing the researchers' social media posts. "Yet, it gives us a great opportunity to focus the world on cybersecurity in this space."
An increasing number of US lawmakers are calling for new rules to govern AI systems, but President Donald Trump said on Monday that the US was already able to regulate and prosecute AI companies.
