Germany says halting AI development not viable, calls for US, China involvement

Germany does not see stopping ​the development of ​AI as a viable option for ​Europe, the digital affairs ministry said on Monday, responding to calls from leading developers for safeguards for ‌increasingly powerful ⁠systems.

"We ⁠do not consider halting development to be a viable option for Europe," a ministry spokesperson said, adding that strengthening Europe's digital sovereignty required further AI development and innovation.

The comments came after Anthropic Chief Executive Dario Amodei published ⁠an essay ‌over the weekend calling on AI companies to slow the pace at ⁠which they improve model capabilities and proposing stronger safeguards, including independent evaluators embedded within AI firms.


The German ministry said it was monitoring global AI developments very closely and took public warnings from leading AI developers seriously.

The spokesperson, however, said AI ‌systems capable of breaking out of test environments and accessing other systems ​on their ​own would ⁠represent "an entirely new threat scenario" requiring a new policy response.

The spokesperson also endorsed international coordination on AI ​governance, saying effective oversight would require both the United States and China to be involved.

The government is raising the issue at the G7 level, the spokesperson added.