Planning For Pitchforks: AI Labs Are War-Gaming A Catastrophe, Public Revolt, And The Crackdown That Follows

What happened: Senior executives at Anthropic, OpenAI and other AI firms are privately gaming out scenarios in which a major AI incident triggers public and political revolt, Axios reported Friday. OpenAI said its preparedness exercises cover a range of possibilities and such scenarios are not treated as inevitable. Why it matters: The labs want to help shape legislation Washington reaches for after an incident, and the industry could face demands to stop selling dangerous capabilities while arguing its products are needed to contain them.

Senior executives at Anthropic, OpenAI and other AI firms are privately gaming out scenarios in which a major AI incident triggers public and political revolt, Axios reported Friday. OpenAI said its preparedness exercises cover a range of possibilities and such scenarios are not treated as inevitable.

The labs want to help shape legislation Washington reaches for after an incident, and the industry could face demands to stop selling dangerous capabilities while arguing its products are needed to contain them.