# Walking Toward the AI Cliff Is Not Control by Ezra Klein > “This chasm—the difference between what we see and what the AI labs have coming, what they're building—is the key to understanding why so many of the people who work at these companies seem so afraid of what they're doing. But taking their warning seriously doesn't just mean doing what they say and stopping where they say to stop. The language that has taken hold in Silicon Valley and Washington is a language these companies chose: ‘pace the frontier.’ Pacing the frontier isn't enough. That's not a goal. Walking quickly off a cliff is only marginally better than sprinting off one. We need to control the frontier.” > **— Ezra Klein**, *The Ezra Klein Show, September 2026* ## Sources and Context - **Timecoded episode recording:** [*The Ezra Klein Show* at 0:52](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjZ90V_JREk&t=52s) — recording and precise locator for the source object preserved in this Reminder. - **Reconciled source dossier:** [[research/Why Are We Sprinting Off the AI Cliff - Ezra Klein on Recursive Self-Improvement|Why Are We Sprinting Off the AI Cliff?]] — preserves broadcast order, speaker attribution, editorial conventions and the surrounding argument. - **Editorial treatment:** The poster text follows the reconciled source object without substantive alteration; spoken punctuation and transcript lineation are normalized for reading. - **Context:** Klein distinguishes slowing frontier development from retaining the institutional and technical power to decide what the frontier may do. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Simple Reminders|Simple Reminders]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] - **Article:** [[articles/We Cannot Un-Strike the Match|We Cannot Un-Strike the Match]] - **Article:** [[articles/Safety Discourse Is Transition Discourse|Safety Discourse Is Transition Discourse]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Immediate AI Risk Is the Public|The Immediate AI Risk Is the Public]] - **Article:** [[articles/AI Escape Is the Wrong Metaphor|AI Escape Is the Wrong Metaphor]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/AI Control|AI Control]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/AI Control|AI Control]] - [[wiki/AI Pacing|AI Pacing]] - [[wiki/Frontier AI|Frontier AI]] - [[wiki/AI Governance|AI Governance]] - [[wiki/Ezra Klein|Ezra Klein]] ## Share on Social Media ``` “This chasm—the difference between what we see and what the AI labs have coming, what they're building—is the key to understanding why so many of the people who work at these companies seem so afraid of what they're doing. But taking their warning seriously doesn't just mean doing what they say and stopping where they say to stop. The language that has taken hold in Silicon Valley and Washington is a language these companies chose: ‘pace the frontier.’ Pacing the frontier isn't enough. That's not a goal. Walking quickly off a cliff is only marginally better than sprinting off one. We need to control the frontier.” — Ezra Klein, The Ezra Klein Show, September 2026 https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-ezra-klein-walking-ai-cliff ```