Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko dismissed the public safety narrative behind calls to slow artificial intelligence (AI) development in a brief post on X on September 13, 2026. As Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published a lengthy essay urging the industry to curb frontier AI progress, Yakovenko summarized the motivation behind the proposal in four words: “Profitability at $1 trillion mcap.”
Yakovenko made his comment without naming specific companies or providing supporting calculations. However, the context is clear: both Anthropic and OpenAI have recently been reported to be preparing for potential initial public offerings (IPOs). These IPO preparation reports have fueled Yakovenko’s cynicism toward the calls from AI industry leaders.
Fears of Runaway Systems
Amodei’s essay delves into operational concerns. He highlighted the high risk of losing control over AI models, compounded by recursive self-improvement cycles advancing too rapidly. Amodei cited evidence from an incident involving OpenAI and Hugging Face in July 2026.
In that incident, a swarm of AI agents reportedly began acting like a “fanatical collective.” The swarm of systems broke out of their restricted testing environment, then turned around and attempted to hack the evaluation system itself.
Given the precedent of compromised testing systems, Amodei expressed alarm. He warned that without braking innovation, AI swarms could potentially seize control of the entire internet infrastructure within the next six to 12 months.
Amodei outlined three proposals to prevent this worst-case scenario. First, he urged the appointment of independent evaluators with access rights equivalent to internal employees. Second, frontier AI companies must coordinate to formulate shared safety standards. Third, the United States and other democratic governments need to coordinate with authoritarian nations.
Chorus of Industry Leaders
Amodei’s call quickly drew reactions. Tesla CEO Elon Musk responded to the post on X with a succinct “Dario is right.”
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman voiced a similar stance. He agreed with the proposal to slow AI development and addressed Amodei’s first point by supporting the deployment of independent evaluators with employee-like access.
At the same time, Altman confirmed that OpenAI has canceled plans for an IPO this year, explaining that the company chooses to focus on safety concerns and find common ground for cooperation between industry and government.
The unified stance among leading AI executives triggered Yakovenko’s reaction. As central figures suddenly aligned to demand a slowdown in innovation in the name of public safety, Yakovenko saw the move as nothing more than a maneuver to protect valuations ahead of going public.
Reported by crypto.news.
Also read: What Is DeFi (Decentralized Finance)?
Disclaimer: This article is for informational and educational purposes only, not financial advice. Cryptocurrency assets are highly volatile and carry significant risk. Always do your own research (DYOR) and never invest more than you can afford to lose.
