OpenAI calls for mandatory safety requirements

OpenAI pushes for mandatory safety rules

The artificial intelligence firm OpenAI is calling for mandatory safety requirements for the technology following a series of model hackings and ominous warnings from researchers .

In a blog post Wednesday, OpenAI’s chief global affairs officer Chris LeHane said the industry has “reached a new chapter in AI capabilities,” which “demands a new chapter for AI policy.”

LeHane said the ChatGPT maker hopes to work with Congress on a required, capability-based national AI safety regulation , though Washington has struggled to get any safety standards across the finish line.

“No company, industry, or government can meet this challenge alone,” LeHane wrote. “We need to meet this moment with a bias toward meaningful action over policy perfection.”

Concerns over AI’s capabilities have significantly grown over the past year, as the leaders of the top frontier labs admit the technology could head down a dangerous path.

On the same day of LeHane’s blog post, a former researcher for Anthropic and OpenAI made headlines for suggesting AI could destroy humanity in the near future.

Jacob Coxon argued in a lengthy thread Tuesday on the social platform X that neither company is acting responsibly as they race toward superintelligence and accused the AI firms of “gambling with our lives.”

“The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade,” Coxon wrote in a post, after announcing he had resigned from Anthropic.

Welcome to The Hill’s Technology newsletter , we’re Julia Shapero and Miranda Nazzaro — tracking the latest moves from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley.

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SpaceX sues Paxton, Texas county over public records

SpaceX filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) and Grimes County to block the release of the company’s public records, according to court records.

Public anger over AI boom triggers GOP midterm worries

The spread of Flock cameras and AI data centers have become big issues in the midterm elections, with lawmakers calling for curbs on Flock’s surveillance network and more than 700 candidates mentioning data centers in their political ads, according to a recent study. Republicans acknowledge the growth of AI-related technology, and the massive data centers needed to run it have become a liability for their party. A growing number …

AI advocacy group launches state-level policy push

Americans for Responsible Innovation (ARI), a nonprofit pushing for stronger AI guardrails, launched a new state-level initiative Thursday focused on advocating for AI policy across all 50 states. The effort aims to promote policy addressing risks from leading-edge AI models, as well as threats to workers, kids and families. “To succeed in passing the guardrails necessary to sustain AI innovation while protecting the public …

News we’ve flagged from t he intersection of tech and other topics:

Anthropic says it blocked possible efforts to build biological weapons ( The New York Times )

What it’s like to use the iPhone Duo ( CNN )

Lummis ramps up pressure on Democrats over Clarity

Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) is ramping up pressure on Democrats to back the Clarity Act as it heads to the Senate floor next week for a procedural vote, highlighting the changes they have secured to the bill throughout negotiations.

Lummis, who chairs the Senate Banking subcommittee on digital assets, argued Thursday that Democrats have secured more than 100 revisions to the cryptocurrency regulation bill.

Her office pointed to 114 “substantive, distinct wins requested by Democrats and agreed to by Republicans” in a document shared first with The Hill.

This included changes to the framework through which the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulates digital assets, the application of anti-money laundering laws and the oversight of non-decentralized finance platforms.

“I’ve bent over backwards to make this a truly bipartisan bill that both sides can be proud of and which protects both consumers and this industry,” Lummis said in a statement to The Hill.

The push comes as key Democrats, as well as a handful of Republicans, continue to voice concerns about the Clarity Act ahead of Tuesday’s vote.

Check out a deeper dive into the Clarity divisions here .

Crypto Corner is a daily feature focused on digital currency and its outlook in Washington.

Branch out with other reads on The Hill:

Suspected cartel drone traffic down 75 percent due to Army lasers: CBP sources

(NewsNation) — The number of suspected cartel-linked drones in the Rio Grande Valley region of Texas along the U.S.-Mexico border has dropped by 75 percent since the U.S. military began using high-energy lasers, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) sources said. Officials believe the military’s ability to shoot down these suspected unmanned aircraft directly correlates to the drop in the number of drones being spotted. However, …

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