Altman Tells OpenAI Staff He's Open to Slowing Frontier AI, Asks Congress if Coordination Is Antitrust-Safe

Sam Altman told OpenAI staff this week the company is open to pacing cutting-edge AI development and hopes other labs will do the same, in what represents a sharp reversal of his prior stance. Separately, OpenAI has asked members of Congress for guidance on whether an industry-wide slowdown would be legal under antitrust law, per Wired, citing risks under the Sherman Act if labs coordinate on restricting output. A bipartisan bill introduced in July, the Collaboration on Adversarial Threats and Security Risks Act, would create an antitrust safe harbor for AI safety coordination but has not been enacted.