OpenAI is bound to get a reality check soon, if it hasn’t already, on how difficult it is to “pace” AI technology, let alone getting all the frontier AI developers to agree on how to do so together.

CEO Sam Altman last week walked employees through three proposals the industry has discussed for how to safely develop AI, we reported yesterday. Those options included plans for developing an international organization akin to the International Atomic Energy Agency; merging the frontier labs into a single entity that would develop, test and distribute models; or a scenario, however far-fetched, in which one lab races ahead of the others and literally crushes their GPUs, ending their ability to catch up.

It goes without saying that each of those options has major issues. But we’ll say it anyway. 

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman last week told employees about three proposals the industry has discussed for how to safely develop AI, a stark framing that comes just as the Trump administration sets up its first system for policing “superintelligence” developers like OpenAI.

One path involved developing an international organization, similar to the International Atomic Energy Agency, that would enforce safety standards, a scenario Altman appeared to support, said two people with knowledge of the comments. Another option would involve merging all of the AI labs into a single body to develop new AI safely.