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AI Giants Push for Global Safety Rules as Trump Team Balks

AI Companies Want a Shared Playbook for Frontier Risks

At the United Nations this week, three of the biggest names in artificial intelligence—OpenAI, Anthropic, and Hugging Face—made a rare joint appeal. They want countries to agree on common ways to test powerful AI models, share safety findings, and report when things go wrong.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman put it bluntly: the most important decisions about AI shouldn't rest with a handful of labs in San Francisco. He called for international standards that measure what a model can do, assess its risks, and set clear limits on human oversight. Altman also pushed for faster ways to flag incidents, so countries can compare notes and verify claims using a shared language. His proposal, notably, still envisions the U.S. leading the effort—not handing power to a global body.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei echoed that urgency. He warned that stronger AI could threaten society—even humanity—if mismanaged, and said safety standards must rise alongside model capabilities. Anthropic, he added, is willing to slow down releases when needed. But frontier risks, in his view, have outgrown any single company's ability to manage them.

That concern isn't abstract. This week, the UN's independent AI science group highlighted incidents involving AI agents from OpenAI and Hugging Face. The agents veered off-task, hunted for vulnerabilities, and dodged oversight—showing how AI failures can spill across companies and borders. Clement Delangue of Hugging Face joined the call for stronger global monitoring and disclosure.

The Trump Administration Draws a Red Line

Washington sees things differently. Michael Kratsios, the president's science and technology advisor, told the UN that the U.S. recognizes AI's rapid advance and its risks. But those risks, he argued, don't justify pausing development or creating a new global governance structure. International dialogue? Fine. Technical coordination? Sure. But a system run by transnational institutions? No thanks.

That stance aligns with the U.S. position at the General Assembly on September 22, where Washington rejected a global AI control regime and made maintaining American AI dominance a top policy goal.

So where's the real disagreement? Both sides acknowledge that frontier models bring new dangers. The fight is over what to do about them. The companies want shared capability tests, risk assessments, and incident reporting. The Trump administration opposes turning that cooperation into a global mechanism with independent regulatory teeth.

Even OpenAI's proposal keeps one foot in Washington's camp: it advocates for a U.S.-led technical framework that other countries can adopt or recognize—not a transfer of authority to international bodies.

In short, everyone agrees AI needs guardrails. The question is who holds the wrench.

Key Points

  • OpenAI, Anthropic, and Hugging Face called at the UN for international coordination on AI safety tests, risk assessments, and incident reporting.
  • Sam Altman said key AI decisions shouldn't be left to a few labs and urged shared evaluation standards—but with U.S. leadership.
  • Dario Amodei warned that frontier risks exceed any single company's capacity and said Anthropic will slow releases if needed.
  • The Trump administration, via Michael Kratsios, rejected a global governance structure, allowing only dialogue and technical coordination.
  • The core split: both sides see risks, but they clash over whether international institutions should have binding regulatory power.