OpenAI and Anthropic Signal Major AI Safety Push as Industry Leaders Coordinate on Pacing
Sam Altman hints at cross-company safety collaboration while Dario Amodei calls for slowing AI capability development with government support.
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Sam Altman Hints at Industry-Wide Safety Collaboration
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, in an exclusive interview with Fortune on 12 September 2026, hinted at a soon-to-be-announced collaboration with other AI company leaders on safety.
Altman told Fortune that a 10% risk of a catastrophic AI outcome is not acceptable. According to a Bloomberg News report citing anonymous sources, Sam Altman stated that in a meeting with OpenAI employees, the company was considering slowing down the development of its most cutting-edge AI.
Anthropic Commits to Independent Safety Oversight
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei announced that Anthropic is committing to giving independent evaluators permanent, employee-level access inside the company as a new safety measure.
Amodei stated: “We must slow the pace at which we improve the capabilities of AI models.” He further noted that slowing AI capability development would require coordination across the US AI industry and an international pact. Amodei wrote that “some forms of coordination that would be impactful for pacing are legally challenging, and will require government support.”
Industry Signs “Pacing the Frontier” Letter
Frontier AI companies including OpenAI and Anthropic have coalesced on the term ‘pacing’ and have joined forces to sign a ‘Pacing the Frontier’ letter.
Safety Concerns Mount Amid Staff Departures
Anthropomorphic researcher Jacob Coxon publicly resigned on 9 September 2026 and accused both Anthropic and OpenAI of acting irresponsibly in developing ever more capable AI systems.
Evan Hubinger, Anthropic’s alignment science lead, publicly stated that his personal estimate of the risk of AI killing all humans within the next decade is more than 10%.
At OpenAI, several key safety figures have recently departed. OpenAI’s head of ethics Chloé Bakalar left the company after less than a year on the job. Head of safety systems Johannes Heidecke, chief futurist and former head of mission alignment Joshua Achiam, and Sandhini Agarwal, who previously led AI safety teams, have all recently departed OpenAI.
Sam Altman told the Sources newsletter that OpenAI’s unreleased models are showing “various degrees of misalignment.”
OpenAI Updates Safety Framework
OpenAI stated it is in the process of rewriting its preparedness framework document, most of which dates back to 2023.
Source: Fortune
Developments since publication
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Sam Altman indicated OpenAI would join Anthropic in embedding third-party evaluators to monitor safety internally. Source
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OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google DeepMind are working to establish an industry standards body to screen advanced models and coordinate industry-wide slowdowns if risks escalate. Source
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Chris Lehane stated that OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google DeepMind do not need a government antitrust waiver to coordinate on AI safety matters. Source
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Anthropic released its own proposals for the safe development of frontier AI models the week before OpenAI's September 21 post, described as a response to a wave of warnings about AI's threat to human Source
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Sam Altman said on September 12, 2026 that leading AI CEOs — naming Dario Amodei and Demis Hassabis specifically — might 'get in a room and come up with a plan' to address AI safety collectively. Source
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Working-group meetings among OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google DeepMind staff on a shared standards body began in July 2026, according to reporting attributed to The Information. Source
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In summer 2025, OpenAI and Anthropic ran a joint alignment evaluation in which each company applied its internal safety and misalignment tests to the other's publicly released models, with combined re Source
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OpenAI's global policy chief Chris Lehane confirmed on September 15, 2026 that OpenAI has been working with Anthropic and Google DeepMind on AI safety for several weeks. Source
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Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published an essay on September 13, 2026 calling for the industry to collectively slow the pace of frontier AI development to avoid catastrophic risks. Source
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Sam Altman stated that OpenAI would join Anthropic in embedding third-party evaluators into the company to monitor for safety. Source
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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Google DeepMind's Demis Hassabis, and Elon Musk all publicly expressed support for Amodei's call to action on slowing frontier AI development. Source
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Lehane stated that OpenAI does not believe an antitrust waiver is necessary for the three firms (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind) to coordinate on AI safety matters. Source