Leading AI executives, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, and Google DeepMind cofounder Demis Hassabis, have recently emphasized the need for legal guardrails to manage AI risks. While such calls from profitable industry leaders often face skepticism, the trend of warning about AI's potential dangers has a long history.
A Long History of AI Leaders Calling for Regulation
Historical warnings date back to the 19th century and continued through the 20th century. In 1951, Alan Turing warned that artificial intelligence might eventually outstrip human powers. In 2000, Sun Microsystems cofounder Bill Joy suggested that self-replicating robots could pose risks greater than nuclear weapons. In 2009, Microsoft researcher Eric Horvitz led a panel to explore policies that might constrain the behaviors of autonomous and semi-autonomous systems to address emerging concerns.
Modern calls for regulation have been prominent among high-profile figures like Elon Musk, who has suggested for years that AI could be more dangerous than nuclear weapons. Other leaders have also advocated for regulatory frameworks. Microsoft president Brad Smith spoke of the need for a "floor of responsibility" to support healthy market competition and prevent a "race to the bottom," while Google CEO Sundar Pichai has argued that governments must decide how to approach regulation to ensure accountability.
Sources
- A brief history of AI executives calling for regulation （The Verge AI, 2026-09-16）
- Eric Horvitzの公式サイト