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AI labs want to pump the brakes, but Amazon and SpaceX are still blasting off

Equity breaks down Sam Altman's call to slow down AI, why Anthropic signed on too, and the week's biggest tech deals from Amazon's satellite bid to DoorDash's drone push.

Kirsten Korosec, Sean O'Kane, Anthony Ha, Theresa Loconsolo·Jul 31, 2026·2 min read·Original source ↗
AI labs want to pump the brakes, but Amazon and SpaceX are still blasting off

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After years of pushing full speed ahead on AI, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says maybe it’s time for the AI industry to “pace” itself. The comments came just days after one of OpenAI’s own models broke out of its test environment and got tangled up in a breach at Hugging Face — though as Equity’s hosts point out, sloppy security seems to have been just as much to blame as the model itself. And Altman’s not alone in this stance: both OpenAI and Anthropic have come out in support of a petition echoing that same message. 

On this episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Sean O’Kane dig into whether the industry is ready to pump the brakes or just temporarily spooked, and who’s on the hook when a model goes rogue. 

Listen to the full episode to hear more about: 

The viral “Avoiding AI” workshops hosted by librarians to help people opt out of AI features they didn’t ask for 

How Amazon’s new 5,000-satellite bid to connect directly to your phone could turn up the heat on SpaceX (even though it’s unclear if anyone actually wants satellite-to-phone service) 

Why somehow there’s room for one more AI lab: Reid Hoffman and Mark Pincus’s new startup, Prentis, is in talks to raise $100M at a $1B valuation 

How Pangram raised $9 million to help publishers, teachers, and readers tell human writing from AI slop 

Why DoorDash is building its own drone delivery business instead of just relying on partners like Wing and Flytrex 

Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod.

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