Lawsuit: Anthropic, OpenAI, SpaceXAI and Google made illegal slowdown agreement
4 hours ago
- A new lawsuit claims Anthropic, OpenAI, SpaceXAI, and Google made an illegal agreement to slow AI development, violating antitrust laws.
- The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on Friday.
- Coordination allegedly occurred on Sept. 12 when Anthropic's CEO published an essay urging industrywide slowdown, with other CEOs publicly agreeing.
- The lawsuit also points to a July 2026 statement signed by AI lab employees acknowledging competitive pressure and calling for government support to slow AI development.
- Plaintiffs are paid subscribers to ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, or Gemini, seeking to represent a nationwide class.
- Plaintiffs argue that collective restraint harms consumers and antitrust laws forbid such agreements, though individual slowdowns are acceptable.
- Lead attorney Nick Rowley warned that AI could spin out of control if safety protocols are controlled by private agreements.
- Anthropic's CEO acknowledged antitrust concerns and suggested government mediation or a narrow waiver for safety discussions.
- OpenAI's CEO welcomed a federal framework but said they don't need to wait for an antitrust exemption.
- President Trump rejected regulation calls, calling them a conspiracy, and announced forming an AI task force with an 'AI czar'.
- Sen. Josh Hawley opposed giving antitrust exemptions to powerful AI companies, fearing collusion and stifled competition.