A new class-action lawsuit claims Anthropic, OpenAI, SpaceXAI, and Google illegally coordinated to slow AI development, harming consumers.
Key facts
- •The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
- •Plaintiffs include four individuals who pay for subscriptions to ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, or Gemini.
- •The complaint alleges that coordination began as early as July 2026 with a joint statement from AI lab employees.
- •Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei proposed industrywide cooperation on September 12.
- •The lawsuit argues that collective restraint on development negatively impacts the value of paid AI subscriptions.
A lawsuit filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California alleges that Anthropic, OpenAI, SpaceXAI, and Google violated antitrust laws by coordinating to slow the pace of AI development. The plaintiffs, representing a proposed class of paid subscribers to these companies' AI services, argue that this collective restraint reduces consumer value and substitutes private agreements for individual market accountability.
Allegations of Coordinated Slowdown
The complaint centers on events from September 12, when Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published an essay advocating for industrywide cooperation to decelerate AI advancements for safety reasons. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, SpaceXAI CEO Elon Musk, and Google DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis publicly agreed with the proposal. The lawsuit also cites a July 2026 statement signed by employees from several AI labs, which acknowledged competitive pressure against slowing development and called for government support for a global deceleration effort.
Legal Arguments and Industry Response
Plaintiffs argue that while individual companies may choose to prioritize safety, antitrust laws prohibit them from forming private agreements to limit progress. Lead attorney Nick Rowley stated that allowing such agreements could lead to AI spinning out of human control. In his essay, Amodei suggested the U.S. government could enable these discussions by issuing narrow antitrust waivers. OpenAI's Sam Altman responded that while the company welcomes a federal safety framework, it does not believe an antitrust exemption is necessary to begin safety work. Representatives for the four companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Timeline
- July 2026High-ranking employees from several AI labs signed a statement acknowledging competitive pressure and calling for a global effort to slow AI development.
- September 12Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published an essay urging industrywide cooperation on slowing AI advancements, which was supported by leaders from OpenAI, SpaceXAI, and Google.
- FridayA lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California alleging antitrust violations.
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This article was independently rewritten by ManyPress editorial AI from reporting originally published by ABC News Technology, The Hindu Technology.
