Policy
Anthropic co-founder says verifiable AI kill switch may need to be mandated
Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark told the BBC that lawmakers may eventually need to require AI developers to maintain a shutdown mechanism that outside parties can verify. He said most labs, including Anthropic, already have ways to halt their systems, and argued against leaving the industry entirely unregulated.
In the interview, published Sept. 14, Clark presented a mandatory kill switch and independent verification as questions for the wider policy debate rather than settled demands, according to the BBC report carried by Yahoo News. He likened an unregulated AI sector to gambling with large risks.
The comments came days after Anthropic researcher Evan Hubinger put the chance of AI causing human extinction within a decade at more than 10 percent, and after chief executive Dario Amodei urged slower frontier development. On NPR's Morning Edition, Clark called slowing down a collective action problem and said risks once treated as academic have this year appeared in real-world incidents.
In Congress, Representatives Ted Lieu and Nathaniel Moran introduced the AI Kill Switch Act in July. Lieu's office says it would require developers of the most capable systems to be able to throttle, suspend or shut them down, and would let the Homeland Security secretary order such steps. President Donald Trump has rejected calls to slow AI development, dismissing takeover fears as a hoax, and the BBC reported that the UK government recently declined to pursue a kill switch.
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