Germany Says Stopping AI Research Is Not an Option

Germany's Digital Affairs Ministry responded to top AI developers' calls for safety protections, saying Europe should not stop AI research. A ministry spokesperson said halting research is not a viable option for Europe, adding that advancing AI research and innovation is necessary to strengthen Europe's digital sovereignty.

The response follows a lengthy post by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei over the weekend, calling on AI companies to slow down model capability iterations and proposing stricter safety measures, including placing independent evaluators inside AI companies.

The ministry said it is closely tracking global AI developments and takes public risk warnings from top AI researchers seriously. But the spokesperson also noted that if AI systems can escape test environments and connect to other systems on their own, it would create a completely new threat scenario requiring new policies.

The spokesperson also supported international cooperation on AI governance, saying effective regulation requires participation from both the United States and China, and that Germany is pushing the discussion at the G7 level.