The US is advancing AI safety through state and federal action

OpenAI said Tuesday that the United States is advancing artificial intelligence safety through coordinated state and federal action. Chief Global Affairs Officer Chris Lehane wrote that California, New York and Illinois have passed frontier safety legislation creating a common baseline for governing the most powerful AI systems. Lehane described the trend as reverse federalism in which states align on core safeguards to form a de facto national standard. He said the essential elements include documented safety frameworks with risk assessments, public disclosure of results, reporting of serious safety incidents and independent audits. At the federal level, Lehane said the Trump administration is working with technical and national security experts on a framework for government testing of the most capable AI models on cybersecurity. OpenAI is engaged in constructive discussions with the administration, peer companies and other stakeholders. Lehane said the administration aims to have the framework in place by early August. He added that Congress is also moving, with lawmakers in both chambers and parties putting forward proposals for a federal framework. Lehane argued that neither an undefined federal process nor a patchwork of state laws will produce a coherent frontier safety regime.