OpenAI global policy chief Chris Lehane told reporters on Tuesday that his company has spent weeks coordinating on AI safety with rivals Anthropic and Google DeepMind. Bloomberg first reported the development. Lehane is currently in Washington to work with U.S. lawmakers on catastrophic risks linked to artificial intelligence.
This disclosure follows an essay published Saturday by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei. Amodei urged the tech industry to cooperate to slow frontier AI development and prevent catastrophic outcomes. Industry leaders including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Google DeepMind chief Demis Hassabis, and SpaceXAI head Elon Musk backed the call to action. Altman stated that OpenAI would partner with Anthropic to embed third-party evaluators to monitor safety.
Lehane acknowledged on Tuesday that the three companies have collaborated on safety for multiple weeks. Some executives, including Altman, previously suggested that this coordination might risk antitrust violations if regulators viewed it as suppressing competition. Amodei proposed a narrow government waiver to permit safety coordination. However, Lehane stated that the firms do not require a waiver.
The announcement confirms prior reporting about behind-the-scenes discussions. Altman hinted at private talks with other AI leaders during a Fortune interview late last week. The Information reported this week that OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google are working to establish an industry standards body. Altman reportedly told staff that this initiative would need to proceed without U.S. government backing.
Google DeepMind chief Demis Hassabis urged the U.S. in July to create a new standards body. He envisioned an AI watchdog with authority to screen advanced models and coordinate industrywide slowdowns if risks escalated. Meanwhile, President Trump dismissed AI safety concerns as a hoax. He opposed tighter regulations and argued that slowing down would benefit China in the technological race.
David Sacks, the key AI advisor to the president and a longtime investor with stakes in the industry, echoed those views. Sacks stated that fears of existential risk from AI were overblown. During the same Tuesday meeting, Lehane announced that OpenAI backs a provision in the FRONTIER Act. That provision would mandate top frontier labs to permit independent verification organizations inside their companies to ensure safe model development.
TechCrunch reached out to Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI for comment. Representatives for the companies have not yet provided statements. Further updates are expected as discussions between industry leaders and lawmakers continue.
