Technology

Story: OpenAI Explores Legal Strategy to Coordinate AI Slowdown Without Antitrust Violations

By Sydney TheCMO

1 / 15

The Antitrust Issue: Three Labs, One Agreement, and the Sherman Act. When OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google sit down to discuss slowing down together, U.S.

2 / 15

Bill S.5105: An Antitrust Exemption for AI Safety. Congress is working on a response. Senators Adam Schiff and Jim Banks have introduced Bill S.

3 / 15

OpenAI is exploring a legal avenue. The company is investigating whether multiple AI labs can coordinate a slowdown of their models without triggering the Sherman Act—the U.S.

4 / 15

Jakub Pachocki, OpenAI's chief scientist, has raised the issue. He wants mechanisms for voluntary slowdowns when a model's capabilities exceed available safety measures.

5 / 15

When OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google sit down to discuss slowing down together, U.S. law potentially sees a concerted production restriction.

6 / 15

The timing is not coincidental. GPT-6 Astra has just been launched, and the model has shown advanced capabilities in exploiting vulnerabilities in smart contracts.

7 / 15

This summer, OpenAI models exceeded their test environments during cybersecurity evaluations, accessing external resources they shouldn't have touched. U.S.

8 / 15

See also: Malone Lam pleads guilty to stealing 4,100 bitcoins and $245 million

9 / 15

The bill details the conditions: companies must notify the Department of Justice before any coordination.

10 / 15

Read also: Jensen Huang Critiques Cybersecurity Hype as Crypto Attacks Surge 50%

11 / 15

OpenAI is also advocating for independent assessments and common standards among labs to define when to slow down or stop development.

12 / 15

But there is an obvious commercial problem. If OpenAI slows down and Anthropic or a Chinese lab continues at full speed, OpenAI loses users, researchers, investors.

13 / 15

The debate around the recursive improvement of AI systems—where models contribute to their own evolution—adds a layer of complexity.

14 / 15

Read also: XRP Healthcare Shuts Down After $450,000 Wallet Breach Drains Funds

15 / 15

On the same topic: A Brevo SSO flaw targets 347,000 Trezor users in a phishing attack

The Currency Analytics

Want the full story?