OpenAI has asked members of Congress for clear guidance on whether orchestrating an industry-wide slowdown on frontier AI development would be legal, according to people close to the company. Substantive coordination on safety between AI labs may risk running afoul of antitrust law, posing a significant obstacle to bringing major tech giants on board with the effort.
Last weekend, OpenAI’s chief scientist, Jakub Pachocki, published a blog post arguing that the best path forward for the AI research world includes 'coordinating to slow down future development,' which he thinks will be key to ensuring that self-improving AI systems are safe. In the short term, he expects 'voluntary slowdowns to become commonplace until shared safety bars are established.'
Some legal scholars say such an effort could conflict with US antitrust laws.
Nicholas Felstead, assistant director of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and a former AI policy fellow at the Center for Law & AI Risk, argued in a March article that a coordinated pause in AI development may amount to companies restricting output, potentially violating the Sherman Antitrust Act.
It would depend 'entirely on the precise details of any agreement,' Felstead wrote. 'But even if most safety collaborations would ultimately survive ant, legal uncertainty can act as a powerful deterrent.'
There are some early signs that Congress is listening.
In July, a bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers introduced a bill titled 'Collaboration on Adversarial Threats and Security Risks Act,' which would explicitly permit AI labs to coordinate on security and safety work without the risk of violating antitrust statutes.
The House version was referred to the Judiciary Committee but has yet to be taken up.
Caleb Knapp, director of government affairs at the nonprofit AI Policy Network, which endorsed the bill, says it would create legal channels for AI labs to work together to address safety and security incidents.
Knapp adds that Congress has a 'growing appetite to get something done' on AI safety but says enacting anything into law may have to wait until after the upcoming midterm elections.
OpenAI did not respond to a request for comment ahead of publication. While some AI executives may have genuine concerns about antitrust, another camp of AI leaders argue those worries are just convenient cover to avoid discussing the real reasons that AI developers may be wary about collaborating, which go far beyond potential legal liabilities.
Source: wired
