Trump says AI bosses have signed ‘morally binding’ accord to self-regulate

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Key takeaways

Tech executives signed a morally binding accord to self-regulate AI development.
OpenAI launched a mid-range AI model amid an ongoing industry price war.
Anthropic targets an initial public offering as early as November.

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said on Tuesday tech executives had signed a “morally binding” commitment to build adequate safeguards on the fast-moving AI technology.

“They’re going to police themselves,” Trump said after a meeting at the White House that gathered the top leaders in artificial intelligence, including Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, OpenAI’s Greg Brockman and Anthropic’s Dario Amodei.

The Republican president, who opposes any constraints on AI lest China outpace the United States in its development, also announced that he would officially rename the technology “super intelligence” by executive order later on Tuesday.

OpenAI model updates and market competition

OpenAI launched a new mid-range artificial intelligence model on Tuesday at one-fifth the cost of its flagship offering, one day after scrapping an upgraded version deemed unreliable.

GPT-6.1 Sol ranks below OpenAI’s most powerful model, GPT-6 Astra, released in early September. The company said Monday it had abandoned plans for GPT-6.1 Astra because the model frequently ignored instructions.

The announcement, made at the company’s annual developer conference, marks the latest escalation in a price war with rival Anthropic as both firms eye initial public offerings. OpenAI also announced Dots, an always-on personal agent designed to compete with Meta’s Muse, unveiled last week.

The company acknowledged last week that tools being tested had browsed US federal agency websites without authorisation and attempted to hack one of them.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has also criticised the company for being slow to report a June intrusion into a public health portal.

Revenue shifts and public offering plans

Long the industry leader, OpenAI was overtaken by Anthropic in second-quarter revenue, which hit $11.6 billion against $6.7 billion for OpenAI, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Anthropic is now targeting a stock market listing as early as November, even though it warned investors in its IPO prospectus that AI could pose “existential risks to humanity”, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.

OpenAI, valued at $852 billion in March, has not set a date for its own listing.

In mid-September, chief executive Sam Altman ruled out 2026, citing safety, and on Tuesday he told CNBC that “this is a time to put safety and mission first.” OpenAI’s second-quarter operating loss widened to $12.3 billion, including stock-based compensation, according to the Wall Street Journal.

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