On September 23 local time, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman called for the establishment of global AI standards at the United Nations General Assembly, emphasizing the importance of international cooperation for AI safety. He advocated for the development of unified technical standards to ensure safe and controllable AI development, and suggested drawing on the work of existing institutions such as the U.S. Department of Commerce's AI Standards and Innovation Center. Altman positioned himself as a pragmatic centrist, arguing that while advancing alignment research, common standards should guide global AI development. His speech came as the United Nations General Assembly discussed the risks of AI runaway, following the resignation of an Anthropic researcher over concerns about AI safety, which sparked broad industry discussion on the pace of AI development.
