Pace or Pause.

Their stance,
on the record.

Where prominent people
stand on the pace of AI.

All positions

Stop

Pause

Pace

Continue

Accelerate

Helen Toner

AI policy researcher

PACE

Advocates frontier development governed by safety and assurance thresholds, taking as much time as needed to meet them rather than following a fixed timetable. Supports pausing particular training programs when safety confidence is inadequate, including OpenAI’s 2026 pauses; this is not a blanket fixed-duration halt on all AI.

“…making sure that enough time is taken to meet a reasonable safety/assurance bar.”