OpenAI's global policy chief, Chris Lehane, confirmed on Tuesday that the company has been engaged in discussions with Anthropic and Google DeepMind for several weeks concerning AI safety. This revelation follows earlier reports and hints of collaboration between the firms.
The talks come after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's recent essay, which urged the industry to work together to mitigate catastrophic risks associated with frontier AI. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Google's Demis Hassabis, and SpaceXAI's Elon Musk reportedly supported Amodei's call for action.
Lehane also stated that OpenAI supports a provision within the FRONTIER Act. This provision would require leading frontier AI laboratories to permit "independent verification organizations" to enter their companies to ensure models are developed safely.
Some, including Altman, have raised concerns that such coordination could potentially violate antitrust law if it is found to suppress competition. Amodei's essay had proposed a narrow government waiver for safety coordination, though Lehane reportedly indicated the firms do not require one.
President Trump has reportedly dismissed AI safety concerns and opposed tighter regulations, suggesting a slowdown would benefit China. His AI advisor, David Sacks, echoed these sentiments, stating that fears of existential AI risk are exaggerated.