AI race only speeding up, not slowing down, say executives

By the Editorial Team · Monday, October 12, 2026

Industry leaders emphasize that the global race to accelerate AI development persists despite growing calls from figures like OpenAI's CEO to slow progress for safety reasons. This ongoing push highlights the tension between rapid innovation and the need for governance, with significant implications for data security, commercial strategies, and regional AI initiatives such as those in the UAE.

The global competition to advance artificial intelligence (AI) technology continues to intensify, according to industry executives, despite growing calls from some prominent figures to slow the pace of development.

Matt Swalley, senior director for AI and HPC data storage infrastructure at Vdura, characterized the current landscape as a “race to who can develop these things the fastest,” predicting that acceleration in AI innovation will proceed unabated. Shady Khattab, director of AI sales, architecture, and solutions at open-source software company Suse, echoed this sentiment, stating that innovation in AI is unlikely to diminish.

Their perspectives contrast with those of key voices within the industry advocating for a more cautious approach. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has reportedly conveyed to his employees that the company is contemplating slowing cutting-edge AI development, and he has called on other laboratories to consider similar measures. In a recent interview, Altman described the current moment as “a good time to slow down” AI model advancement and suggested that leading AI developers might soon announce a collaborative effort to mitigate rising safety concerns.

Supporting this push, OpenAI chief scientist Jakub Pachocki has encouraged coordination among AI firms to implement necessary slowdowns. Over 1,000 employees from major AI companies signed a petition in July demanding mechanisms to moderate the pace of development. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has also argued for slowing progress, though he emphasizes maintaining a strategic lead over competitors such as China. Meanwhile, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has expressed that enhancing AI safety can be achieved without halting innovation.

Khattab clarified that calls for “control” center on governance rather than cessation, emphasizing the importance of securing AI systems and building trust rather than impeding technological advancement. Speaking at the AI Everything exhibition in Abu Dhabi, he stressed that AI is an essential tool, not merely a trend, and acknowledged that many organizations are still prioritizing rapid solution development over establishing appropriate governance frameworks. This imbalance can contribute to pilot project failures, he noted.

Khattab outlined digital sovereignty as consisting of three key components: adherence to regulatory compliance, data locality—ensuring sensitive information remains within national borders—and freedom or mobility, which refers to the ability to switch AI models or vendors. He highlighted the role of local data centers in the UAE in helping companies meet these requirements and pointed to escalating regional risks related to AI advances, including identity theft, code breaches, and data tampering.

Swalley noted a shift in industry priorities, from securing GPUs for model training to finding ways to monetize AI investments. As AI workloads increasingly shift from training to inference, he identified data storage as the emerging bottleneck. Swalley predicted inference would account for 90 percent of AI workloads by 2030, underscoring its importance for AI cloud operators aiming to maximize GPU utilization.

Both executives expressed optimism about AI’s growing impact on everyday sectors. Khattab cited applications in healthcare, genomics, and drone-assisted agriculture, while Swalley highlighted how businesses can now create tools in minutes that previously required months to develop. He also pointed to the UAE’s strategic importance in the AI landscape, commending its resources, energy infrastructure, and expertise aligned with the nation’s AI Strategy 2031.

This article was reported by synthesizing coverage from multiple independent news outlets to present a balanced, unbiased account. Read about our editorial standards. Spotted an error? Let us know.