Chris Lehane, global policy chief at OpenAI, revealed on Tuesday that the company has been in talks with rivals Anthropic and Google DeepMind on AI safety for weeks. The disclosure follows Dario Amodei's call for industry cooperation to slow the pace of AI advancement and prevent catastrophic risks. OpenAI has now pledged to embed third-party evaluators, while Anthropic and Google's Google DeepMind have also been collaborating to establish a standards body for the AI industry.

While the move is seen as a positive step towards safer AI development, some experts are concerned that such coordination could be seen as antitrust violations. OpenAI’s Lehane, however, stated that the firms do not need a government waiver to proceed with their discussions.

Earlier this month, Google’s Demis Hassabis called for the US to establish a new standards body to oversee AI development, echoing Amodei's stance. Meanwhile, Elon Musk and Sam Altman have publicly supported the initiative, hinting at private discussions that have been ongoing for some time.

Despite the progress, not all are convinced. Former President Trump has dismissed safety concerns as a hoax and has opposed tighter regulations, fearing it would give China an edge in the AI race. His advisor, David Sacks, has echoed these sentiments, arguing that fears of AI existential risk are overblown.

OpenAI, for its part, supports a provision in the FRONTIER Act that would mandate independent verification of models to ensure their safety. However, as TechCrunch reports, Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI have yet to comment on the latest developments.