By David Au — AI123.ca
I have been using AI almost every day for the past couple of years.
As an 80+ learner, I have seen how quickly AI has moved from something interesting and experimental into something that can write, research, analyze, create images, write computer programs and even perform increasingly complicated tasks.
But recently, I have been asking myself a different question:
Is AI developing too fast for humans to remain fully in control?
This is no longer just a question for ordinary users like me. It has become a serious discussion among the companies building the world's most advanced AI systems.
Two different concerns
In very simple terms, I see two broad positions emerging.
Group 1: Slow down when necessary
Companies and AI leaders in this camp are concerned that AI capabilities may advance faster than our ability to understand and control them.
Anthropic has been particularly vocal about coordinated safety measures and has called for international cooperation around the development of increasingly powerful AI.
OpenAI has also acknowledged the need to “pace” development as AI capabilities increase. In August 2026, OpenAI said it temporarily slowed the scaling of its latest models while strengthening monitoring, alignment and containment safeguards.
Interestingly, this does not mean Anthropic or OpenAI want to stop AI altogether. Both companies continue to develop powerful AI systems. Their position is closer to:
Keep developing—but make sure safety can keep up with capability.
There are also organizations outside the major AI companies, such as the Future of Life Institute, that advocate a much stronger approach, including a pause on frontier AI experiments.
Group 2: Don't fall behind
The other concern is competition.
If one company slows down while its competitors continue, the company that slows may lose its technological and commercial position.
Meta and Nvidia, for example, have opposed a coordinated regulatory slowdown, arguing that AI safety can be managed while development continues.
And there is a very understandable business argument behind this position.
AI could transform software, medicine, science, education, manufacturing, cybersecurity and many other industries.
No major technology company wants to discover five years from now that it stopped developing AI while another company—or another country—continued.
This creates a difficult situation:
If everybody slows down together, safety may improve.
If only one company slows down, it may fall behind.
That is the dilemma.
My humble opinion as an 80+ AI learner
I am not an AI scientist. I am simply an ordinary senior who enjoys learning and experimenting with AI.
But I have one humble thought:
AI development should not be a race where speed becomes more important than control.
I don't believe we should stop AI.
AI has already brought me enormous practical benefits. It helps me write my blogs, investigate subjects, solve computer problems and learn things that would have taken much longer before.
But I also believe that the more powerful AI becomes, the more important human supervision becomes.
We don't need to choose between “stop AI” and “let AI run as fast as possible.”
Perhaps the better question is:
How fast can we safely go?
That is the question I hope the world's AI companies, governments and researchers will seriously consider.
For someone like me, AI is a wonderful companion and learning tool.
I would like to keep enjoying it.
But I also hope that we humans remain the drivers—not merely passengers.
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