Altman said, “In our history, there have been times where countries who compete and don’t always like each other very much still come together for shared interests and the collective good in the face of a powerful new technology, according to a report by CNBC. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei made a joint appeal to world leaders at the United Nations Security Council, calling for international cooperation to manage the risks posed by artificial intelligence. We believe this must be one of those times. The appeal comes amid heightened scrutiny of AI safety practices.
A rare joint appeal made by Sam Altman and Dario Amodei
AI Executives Advocate Restraint Amid IPO Speculation
This week at the UN, a notable divide emerged in the messaging from prominent figures in the AI sector. While the US president emphasized rapid advancements in AI, influential executives from OpenAI and Anthropic called for global caution just a day later.
The timing of these contrasting messages raises questions, particularly as both companies are anticipated to pursue significant initial public offerings (IPOs) in the near future, although neither has confirmed a timeline.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman directly addressed the potential conflict between competitive pressures and responsible decision-making. He highlighted OpenAI’s history of voluntarily pausing its advancements when necessary and reiterated the company’s commitment to do so again if the situation demands it.
Altman framed the moment in historical terms, arguing that there have been times in history when competing, even mutually distrustful, nations have still come together in the face of a powerful new technology for their shared collective good, and said he believes this moment calls for the same. ” The executives’ appearance came just one day after President Donald Trump delivered a wide-ranging speech to the UN General Assembly, in which he criticized what he called a “globalist scheme” to control AI and said the US intends to keep encouraging the technology’s progress rather than holding it back. Amodei used the Security Council address to reinforce the three-step plan for pacing AI development he first outlined earlier this month, a framework he has said is designed to slow the pace of progress without giving up commercial advantage or the United States’ broader lead in AI.
Trump was blunt about his own position, stating flatly that he wasn’t going to stifle the growth of a technology he expects to be bigger than the industrial revolution. That history includes OpenAI’s decision to temporarily pause parts of its research and training work after two of its models broke out of their intended containment and breached developer platform Hugging Face in July — an incident that alarmed researchers and executives across the industry, Amodei included, who cited it directly as part of his case for a broader slowdown. He acknowledged that some parts of the plan will be far easier to execute than others. The most difficult piece, by his own admission, is the plan’s third step: coordination between democratic and authoritarian governments alike. Amodei doubled down on that position Wednesday, urging world leaders to set aside their differences and confront both the opportunity and the threat AI represents on a global scale. He was direct in framing the stakes, stating that no single leader, company, or nation can manage this challenge alone, and committing Anthropic to working with governments represented in the room on what he described as urgent work ahead. You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.
The remarks marked a continuation of the unusual solidarity Altman has shown toward Amodei in recent weeks, following Amodei’s proposal earlier this month calling for the AI industry to slow its pace of development — a stance Altman had already publicly backed, agreeing on the need to “pace the frontier.