Anthropic PBC, OpenAI OPCO LLC, SpaceXAI, and Google LLC made an illegal deal to collectively slow the pace of AI development, according to a new lawsuit, depriving paying subscribers of product improvements they were promised.
The four artificial intelligence giants coordinated on Saturday, according to the complaint, to slow AI development when their executives publicly agreed with an essay that advocated “limits on the rate of unchecked AI progress,” as concerns about the implications of AI development grow.
But the lawsuit alleges that such an agreement among competitors violates antitrust rules, specifically Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act that forbids coordination to restrain competition. The plaintiffs, who are consumers who subscribe to the defendants’ AI services, are seeking class certification, an injunction against the companies, and declaratory judgment that they violated federal antitrust law.
“Plaintiffs challenge only what the antitrust laws forbid: an agreement among competitors about how fast their competing products will improve,” the plaintiff said. “Congress has granted no exemption for that agreement.”
None of the defendants immediately responded to a request for comment.
The plaintiffs allege the conspiracy started when Anthropic Chief Executive Dario Amodei published an essay titled “We Must Pace the Frontier,” calling for “industry-wide coordination.” They said SpaceXAI founder Elon Musk then endorsed the proposal, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman followed, while Google DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis called the essay “the right path forward,” the complaint says.
The plaintiffs argue the coordination amounts to a classic output-restricting cartel, the complaint says. The plaintiffs allege they’re effectively overcharged and are paying the same prices for products that improve more slowly than competition would otherwise produce.
“A company that slows alone while rivals race ahead loses customers, revenue, talent, and technological leadership,” the plaintiffs say.
Trial Lawyers for Justice represents the plaintiffs.
The case is Buist v. Anthropic PBC, N.D. Cal., No. 3:26-cv-10693, complaint 9/18/26.
Additional context (CBS News)
A new lawsuit claims Anthropic, OpenAI, SpaceXAI and Google made an illegal deal to slow the pace of their respective AI development. The lawsuit, filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, argues the leading AI companies violated antitrust laws when they agreed to coordinate slowdown efforts, and that doing so would reduce the value consumers get for paid AI subscriptions.
The coordination largely took place on Sept. 12, the lawsuit argues, when Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published an essay urging for industrywide cooperation on decelerating advancements in favor of enhanced safety measures. Amodei’s rivals — OpenAI’s Sam Altman, SpaceXAI’s Elon Musk and Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis — confirmed their agreement the same day, the lawsuit said.
“The antitrust laws do not permit competitors to decide among themselves that competition is too dangerous,” the plaintiffs argue.
Lawyers representing four named plaintiffs, who pay for subscriptions to ChatGPT, Claude, Grok or Gemini, are bringing the suit on behalf of a proposed nationwide class of other paid subscribers to those services.
In his initial essay proposing the slowdown, Amodei acknowledged potential antitrust challenges, writing it would be helpful for the U.S. government to mediate “or at least enable” these cross-lab discussions.