The AI hypocrisy: Slow down development, but let me keep building
A new piece nails the quiet hypocrisy of AI founders calling for regulation while rushing their own models.
Drama · Source: Hacker News
What happened
Xe Iaso published a provocative piece titled Everyone should slow down AI development except for me. The full text is currently unavailable due to limited access. We only have the title and the publication date to analyze for now. But the headline alone perfectly captures the hypocritical mood of leading tech companies right now.
The title points directly to a common attitude among top artificial intelligence labs. These companies frequently advocate for strict rules or temporary pauses on AI progress. At the exact same time they push their own internal development as fast as humanly possible. They want everyone else to stop while they keep running.
We only have limited details from the source link right now. But the core message requires no further explanation to anyone working in tech. It mocks the prevailing idea that only a select few insiders are responsible enough to build advanced systems. The title exposes the quiet strategy of using safety concerns to stifle competition.
Key facts
- Everyone should slow down AI development except for me — Title of the post
- Xe Iaso — Author of the post
- 2026-09-13 — Publication date
Why it matters
Regulatory capture is the real game happening behind the scenes. When established players ask for safety pauses they are usually asking for a freeze on competition. Builders need to watch what these companies do instead of what they say in public. The loudest voices for regulation are often the ones spending billions on new compute clusters.
If governments listen to these hypocritical demands compliance costs will skyrocket for everyone else. Small teams and solo founders will get priced out of training foundational models. The winners will be the massive corporations who already crossed the finish line before pulling up the ladder. This threatens the entire ecosystem of independent AI builders who rely on open access to technology.
For builders
Ignore the noise and watch compute
Do not let open letters or safety panics dictate your product roadmap. Competitors calling for pauses are still buying compute and training massive models in secret. Keep shipping your products and ignore their public relations stunts.
Prepare for incoming regulatory moats
Safety regulations will eventually become expensive compliance taxes for early stage startups. Start planning how to build defensible products using existing open weights before the door shuts completely. You must assume the regulatory environment will get harder for small teams.
Leverage open source while you can
The push to slow down development is a direct threat to open source models. Build your infrastructure around weights you can control locally on your own hardware. Do not rely entirely on closed APIs from companies that want to regulate you out of existence.
My take
I see this exact hypocrisy every single day in the tech industry. Founders want a total monopoly on the future and use safety concerns as a convenient shield against competition. Build your product relentlessly and ignore the hypocrites who are actively trying to slow you down.
Original reporting: Hacker News. This is my rewrite and opinion.