The big AI labs’ safety push could come with a competitive advantage

OpenAI, Anthropic, and their rivals are rallying around costly independent evaluations and a slower frontier. Some analysts see a potential path to regulatory capture.

Some investors, analysts, and industry watchers believe the big AI labs, especially Anthropic, are taking advantage of the current AI safety scare by inviting regulations that only the largest labs can easily comply with. The AI safety concerns are real, but the financial burden of complying with the proposed regulatory solutions would conveniently entrench the big labs, the thinking goes, while putting smaller labs and open-model developers at a serious disadvantage.