Anthropic’s Jack Clark calls for ability to slow down AI progression

Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark reportedly warned that AI is at the point where it could develop autonomously without human input, arguing that society has the ability to slow the progression of artificial intelligence.

He underlines that society needs to establish a regulatory framework through government policy by comparing the current AI landscape to the 20-century oil boom, which ultimately required sensible policies to ensure public confidence.

“You want the option to be able to take your foot off the gas and put your foot on the brake", Clark told BBC Newsnight. "Right now, it's like the AI industry has a gas pedal, but it doesn't have a brake pedal.”

Anthropic’s chatbot, Claude, is working on running code of which 80% was authored by the AI system itself. Clark states it is highly possible for the system to reach 100% autonomous coding within two years-a significant milestone would have huge implications.

Anthropic welcomed an executive order from US President Donald Trump which takes a relatively hands-off approach and avoids mandating government safety testing despite calling for regulation.

Most importantly, major frontier AI companies including Anthropic, OpenAI and Google have not committed to pausing their research. Anthropic recently engaged in a public dispute with the US Department of Defense over rising fears that its AI tools would be used for lethal warfare and mass surveillance.

Anthropics is preparing for a public stock market listing, founded just five years ago. Private investors estimate its valuation at nearly $1 trillion, making it potentially one of the most valuable listings in history.

Clark addresses the risk of economic disruption caused by AI agents. He analysed that prominent tech companies have already carried out mass layoffs, explicitly criticizing AI’s ability to replace thousands of software engineers.

Clark told Newsnight: “I am worried for my kids if we as a society don't have a serious conversation about what the implications of AI's continued advances mean.There are potentially great benefits. There are also risks.”

According to Clark, there is no evidence that AI systems could be truly creative. The company itself is currently restructuring more due to a lack of fresh ideas driven by engineering constraints.

“People that are creative and can think broadly, people that read a lot, people that have interests are the ones most benefited by this," Clark further added.”