What does pacing the frontier mean?

The statement, at pacingthefrontier.com, is short. Its concern is that AI systems doing AI research could accelerate capability development faster than anyone can understand or control the resulting systems. Its ask is that the option to slow down exist: the measurement, verification and coordination tools that would let governments and labs pace development later, if they decide they need to. It does not ask any lab to slow down now, and it does not ask for a moratorium.

The phrase was picked up in September 2026 by Dario Amodei's essay We Must Pace the Frontier, which goes further than the statement: it argues the industry should slow the rate at which model capabilities improve until behaviour can be credibly controlled, and pairs the argument with an Anthropic commitment to give third party evaluators standing access. The two documents share a phrase and differ in what they ask for; the Slowdown Docket records each on its own page, with what it would require and what it would not.

For a reader who has to repeat the term: the statement asks for tools, the essay asks for a slower pace, and neither is a bill. The Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act is the instrument that would make a pause law, and it is a separate docket item.