Slowing down AI ‘unrealistic’: Palo Alto CEO Nikesh Arora

Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora discouraged calls for slowing down the development of artificial intelligence (AI), stating that collective efforts to hold back the progress of the technology are "unrealistic" when different companies proceed with different approaches to safety.

"I think not everybody is going to pace themselves," Arora said on CNBC's "The Tech Download" podcast on Tuesday.

His comments come amid a raging debate on AI safety after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said in an essay that the industry "must slow the pace at which we improve the capabilities of AI models."


Initially, Arora had called this slowdown campaign a "Ninja Move" on social media. He told CNBC that he posted this because he thought the AI firms were strategically trying to "get the sympathy of the regulators" and get a "free pass" on liability from lawmakers.

Instead of debating whether AI development should proceed without constraints, Arora said companies should analyse whether their products are safe enough to release and should hold back systems that are not. Arora also questioned whether the industry could prepare a mechanism for measuring its pace.

Is AI extinction risk real?

Arora dismissed the idea that AI has a 10% probability of wiping out humanity, saying it was "highly unlikely," although he did not reject it entirely.

"I think it is a very small probability, and it's our job to make sure we build in the guardrails, the safety and security required, so these models are used for the right thing," he noted.

Arora's views align with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who said that rather than new safety regulations, it’s the developers who need to ensure AI safety.

US treasury secretary Scott Bessent similarly noted that developers should take responsibility for their systems instead of expecting the government to provide a "liability shield."

US-China cooperation sharpens debate

In his highly discussed essay, Amodei calls on not just individual companies but also international forces. He proposed "global coordination" and cooperation between China and the US, two of the biggest AI players.

The US has sought to restrict China's access to advanced semiconductor technology that can be used for AI development, while Chinese companies are simultaneously expanding their own AI models and computing capabilities.

As tensions over this between the two countries rise, Arora says that differing views make coordination difficult.