AI giants push safety rhetoric ahead of IPOs, analysts say

September 27, 2026 at 07:04 PM2 min

This digest was compiled by AI from multiple sources — links to the originals are below.

Anthropic and OpenAI CEOs are warning that advanced AI systems pose existential risks and require regulation before release. The companies are shaping safety conversations while seeking public favor and fresh capital ahead of anticipated Wall Street listings. Their aims may not align with calls from some engineers for a pause on development.

Key Facts

Anthropic and OpenAI CEOs have warned that advanced AI models are dangerous and need regulation and independent testing before release.
The companies are seeking public favor and setting terms for their own safety protocols ahead of anticipated IPOs on Wall Street.
Anthropic engineer Jacob Coxon quit this month, calling for a pause on tech development to keep superhuman systems from eluding control.
President Donald Trump dismissed AI risk warnings as a hoax designed to help China.
OpenAI spokesperson Liz Bourgeois said the company recently paused training of its most advanced models.

Safety Rhetoric and IPO Timing

The CEOs of Anthropic and OpenAI have declared America's cutting-edge models so powerful they are dangerous and need regulation and independent testing before release. They have sketched alarming scenarios in essays, social media posts, and speeches to the United Nations. Experts, analysts, and former government evaluators told The Associated Press that the companies appear to be seeking public favor and setting terms for their own safety protocols in the unregulated market. The companies saw engineer Jacob Coxon's resignation post as an opportunity to highlight their own safety efforts and position themselves as cautious market leaders, just when they need fresh capital before going public on Wall Street. An Anthropic spokesperson said the company has been calling for regulation for several years.

Shifting the Risk Conversation

Turning the conversation toward unproven threats and away from polarizing issues such as data centers' environmental impacts, uncontrolled hacking incidents, mass AI-powered surveillance, and AI systems' use in warfare puts Silicon Valley in a more comfortable position, said Sarah Shoker, who previously led OpenAI's geopolitics team. Shoker, a senior non-resident fellow at University of California, Berkeley Risk & Security Lab, said the focus on existential risk deprioritizes other safety-critical risks that exist today, including military AI systems already used to kill people. As AI companies have gone from building chatbots to advanced AI world models with 3D awareness, debate has raged over how their technologies should be tested. Problematic incidents have shown leading AI companies failing to police themselves or design safe experiments.