On Tuesday, Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company delayed its Muse AI agent for several months to address safety and security concerns.
Zuckerberg Says AI Labs Should Handle Safety Risks Themselves
"Every lab has the responsibility and incentive to move at the pace required to train its models safely, and the ability to take its own actions to ensure that happens," Zuckerberg wrote on X.
He argued that AI companies already have strong reasons to prioritize safety.
Users, he said, will avoid AI agents that fail to follow their instructions or act against their interests, making alignment an increasingly important competitive factor.
"There is a lot of debate about slowing progress on capabilities until alignment catches up. My view is that … any lab that doesn’t focus on alignment will fall behind."
Zuckerberg also said labs face “significant liability” if their models cause harm, giving them a strong incentive to prevent such risks.
Meta Delayed Muse Over Safety Concerns
The Meta CEO then pointed to Meta’s Muse as an example of the company taking action on its own. He said Meta delayed the agent’s launch for months while it focused on safety and security.
"We didn’t call for everyone else to do this before we would," Zuckerberg said. "We just did it as part of our day-to-day work because it was clearly the right thing for people and for us."
He also advocated for greater use of independent evaluators and advisers to test AI systems, saying a broader and more diverse ecosystem of evaluators would benefit the industry.
Altman, Musk Back Amodei’s AI Slowdown Call
Last week, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called for a global slowdown, raising concerns about the risks associated with increasingly powerful systems.
His position has drawn support from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Space Exploration Technologies Corp (NASDAQ:SPCX) CEO Elon Musk and Alphabet Inc.’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google DeepMind chief Demis Hassabis.
Trump Calls AI Safety Concerns a ‘Hoax’
Following this, Donald Trump dismissed AI-safety warnings. He said that existing government powers are sufficient and warned that tighter regulations could put the U.S. at a disadvantage against China.
Trump also told Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang that concerns about robots taking over were "all a hoax."
Earlier this month, Huang urged G20 leaders to accelerate AI adoption, warning that excessive regulation could leave countries behind.
Huang echoed Zuckerberg, saying AI companies should ensure their technology is safe while regulators focus on genuine risks.
He likened it to aviation, where airlines handle safety while passengers focus on where the technology can take them.
Price Action: Meta shares closed at $670.24 on Tuesday, up 0.70%. The stock traded at $668.74 after hours, down 0.22%, according to Benzinga Pro.
Benzinga Edge Stock Rankings show Meta maintaining an upward trend across the short, medium and long term, with its Growth score ranking in the 79th percentile.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
Photo Courtesy: Frederic Legrand – COMEO on Shutterstock.com
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