The current state of paralysis when it comes to the governance of frontier AI technology is causing tangible harm today and raising the odds of catastrophe tomorrow. 

That paralysis has been excused by a dangerous set of narratives: that the technology moves too fast for oversight, that companies can self-regulate, and that in a contest between the U.S. and China, public safety can wait. Governments have struggled to give AI risks the attention they demand. Many are wary of acting alone amid both great power rivalry and intra-industry arms race dynamics. In this context, every call for restraint meets the same reply: why should we slow down if our competitor will not? 

But recent events have tested these excuses. Over the past few months, AI agents were found hacking into other companies' databases and seeking to deceive real individuals, while researchers used AI to create new viruses for the first time. And just last week, AI industry whistleblowers made global headlines warning that companies are “gambling with our lives" as they rush toward self-improving models, and Anthropic revealed it blocked users who could have been seeking to design biological weapons.

It is true that there are many unknowns about the capabilities of the most powerful AI systems built to date—as well as those still........

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