Anthropic, OpenAI and Google have held regular discussions since July about creating an AI standards body focused on testing and auditing, predating public calls for greater coordination among developers, The Information reported. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told staff he supports such an organization and believes leading AI labs may have to create it without US government support, the publication reported.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called on Sept. 12 for slower AI development and common safety standards. Anthropic committed to giving outside evaluators permanent access equivalent to employees to verify safety practices, report incidents and assess models during training. OpenAI pledged similar access. Amodei also sought a narrow antitrust waiver from Washington to allow certain safety discussions among competitors.

Cohere CEO Aidan Gomez criticized the proposed concentration of authority. “The idea that two or three Silicon Valley companies should act as the creator, gatekeeper, and rulemaker of AI for every government on earth doesn't survive being said out loud,” he said.