OpenAI wants Washington to force AI safety rules onto the whole industry, including itself.
On Wednesday, OpenAI's chief global affairs officer, Chris Lehane, published a proposal calling for mandatory, capability-based national AI safety regulation in the United States. The plan spells out specific requirements OpenAI wants applied equally to itself and its rivals, including common testing standards for the most advanced models. The company is pushing Congress to pass this legislation before it adjourns. Notably, OpenAI is asking for binding federal rules, not voluntary guidelines.
A company asking to be regulated is a familiar move, but the timing matters. Congress has spent years punting on federal AI rules, leaving a patchwork of state laws in its place. If OpenAI's proposal becomes the template, the company effectively helps write the baseline its rivals will also have to meet.
Companies rarely lobby for rules they can't already meet, so the real test is whether Congress's version looks anything like OpenAI's draft.