OpenAI is backing a group of bipartisan US AI safety bills intended to reduce the risk of artificial intelligence accelerating biological weapons and synthetic viruses.
The ChatGPT-maker is supporting the Web of Biological Data Act, the AI-Ready Bio-Data Standards Act and the Scale Biology Act, a company spokesperson said.
OpenAI is also endorsing a provision of the FRONTIER Act that would require leading artificial intelligence companies to embed independent evaluators to assess the safety of their models.
OpenAI backs US AI safety bills
The move comes as concern over the risks posed by advanced AI grows. The heads of leading US AI laboratories, including OpenAI, have called for a slowdown in the development of increasingly advanced systems.
OpenAI said last week that it was pushing for mandatory national AI safety requirements in the United States.
The company is also working with rivals Anthropic and Google DeepMind on AI safety, according to Chris Lehane, OpenAI’s global policy chief.
Mr Lehane said OpenAI had been in discussions with the two companies for several weeks and did not believe the firms needed an antitrust waiver to co-ordinate on safety issues.
“It’s better to try to work together to prioritise safety,” he said at a briefing in Washington.
Mr Lehane also said OpenAI would support any bipartisan legislation aimed at reducing catastrophic AI risks. OpenAI, Alphabet and Anthropic did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
