Silicon Valley shouldn’t self-regulate on AI safety, Cohere CEO says

TORONTO — Aidan Gomez, CEO of Canadian AI company Cohere, says a “small group of companies in Silicon Valley” shouldn’t be left in charge of ensuring AI is safe.

AI industry leaders have been warning about the dangers of the technology since an Anthropic researcher who quit last week said people in the industry fear AI could “kill us all.”

At the national investment summit in Toronto on Tuesday, Gomez pointed to a call by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei for the U.S. government to loosen antitrust restrictions to allow companies to work on AI safety.

“I think any time you have a CEO asking for antitrust laws, which were developed to prevent cartels, to be temporarily and specifically relaxed for them that should raise a little red flag,” Gomez said.

“The risks with this technology are real, but the way to go about preventing those risks is not going to be a small group of companies in Silicon Valley telling the world how to keep themselves safe.”

In a detailed post, Amodei said the pace of AI development should be slowed down, which would require industry coordination. Among other things, he suggested that while regulations are being developed, “AI companies can and should voluntarily work together to set standards.”

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said he agreed with Amodei that “we need to pace the frontier,” while xAI CEO Elon Musk posted, “Dario is right.”

Gomez said Tuesday the solutions will come from the public and government, in consultation with industry.

Gomez also praised U.S. President Donald Trump’s opposition to calls for AI industry self-regulation.

But Trump has pushed back broadly on the idea of placing guardrails around the technology. He said Monday that efforts to limit AI technology amounted to a conspiracy.

Gomez argued the risks posed by AI must be confronted in a globally co-ordinated way.

“This is probably the most consequential technology humanity has ever developed,” he said, adding there is a need for diversification.

Gomez said his company wants to “ensure that the world has a second rail to run on that is democratically aligned, that believes in those values and will protect democratic leadership through this geopolitical rupture that we’re facing.”

Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon said last week the warnings coming from the AI industry weren’t new and that there are both regulatory and technical solutions to the dangers posed by AI.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 15, 2026.

— Written by Anja Karadeglija in Ottawa and Craig Lord in Toronto

The Canadian Press