The AI arms race is moving too fast for safety, with companies pushing boundaries and governments lagging. AI-driven dehumanization and the unchecked proliferation of autonomous weapons require responsible leadership before it’s too late.
Opinion by: Merav Ozair, PhD
The launch of ChatGPT in late 2023 sparked an arms race among Big Tech companies such as Meta, Google, Apple and Microsoft and startups like OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral and DeepSeek. All are rushing to deploy their models and products as fast as possible, announcing the next “shiny” toy in town and trying to claim superiority at the expense of our safety, privacy or autonomy.
After OpenAI’s ChatGPT spurred major growth in generative AI with the Studio Ghibli trend, Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s CEO, urged his teams to make AI companions more “humanlike” and entertaining — even if it meant relaxing safeguards. “I missed out on Snapchat and TikTok, I won’t miss out on this,” Zuckerberg reportedly said during an internal meeting.
