Keeping America out in front on AI

America needs a national framework built for safety and speed

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Hi

Welcome (back) to The Prompt.

• Why America needs a national AI framework to keep its lead

• How teachers are turning to ChatGPT into a day-to-day teaching partner

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[Policy] A national AI framework to keep America ahead

AI innovation is accelerating. OpenAI’s Sam Altman recently met with federal policymakers to share the capabilities of our new model family, including agents that can work together to tackle hard problems. We just released results to 10 math problems that had been open without significant progress for at least 10 years, all of substantial interest to their respective mathematical communities, and several of broad interest across mathematics as a whole.

These capabilities can help people scale what they create, build, and research – and we’re excited to see them advance the work of scientists, creators, entrepreneurs, and people everywhere with ideas to bring to life.

With innovation moving this fast, we need to likewise speed up the development of democratic frameworks for how AI is deployed and who benefits from it. Democratic AI is the path to protecting America’s national security and economic competitiveness – including against a People’s Republic of China that already has a national strategy for advancing AI – while ensuring that AI’s benefits reach many, not just a few. The objective should be straightforward: keep America at the frontier, keep Americans safe, and make American leadership the foundation for democratic AI around the world.

The Administration’s expected action this week on frontier AI could be an important step toward closing the gap between innovation and governance: a clear, credible, national framework for evaluating the most advanced AI systems, with defined criteria, timelines, and a process that allows them to be deployed safely and quickly.

Find out more about OpenAI’s positions on AI-related public policy.

The urgency is becoming harder to ignore. The rapid increase in advancing capabilities underscores the importance of having a standardized US process for evaluating leading AI systems. America has a lead today. We need a policy framework that helps us extend it.

In discussions with the Administration about developing this framework, as directed by its June 2 executive order, and with bipartisan members of Congress considering legislation, we have pushed for the CAISI to play a central role in a defined process for determining which frontier systems should undergo review, what criteria should apply, and how quickly reviews should happen. The aim should be to make sure we can move safely and quickly, particularly when these technologies can strengthen America’s cyber defenses and those of our allies.

In a democracy, being safe means having a framework to govern technology built by the private sector that incorporates democratic input into how it is reviewed and deployed. When OpenAI talks about societal resilience for AI, democratic decision-making is central to that resilience. The most cutting-edge models should not simply be governed by the companies that build them; democratic institutions should have a meaningful role in shaping how they are deployed.

And being quick is vital to national security. AI is already an important cybersecurity tool. The people defending our government, critical infrastructure, companies, and networks need access to the best tools available when they need them. That includes defenders in the US and, where appropriate, in allied and like-minded countries. A clear, predictable review process can make safety evaluations a pathway to responsible, timely deployment rather than an unpredictable bottleneck.

This is an approach OpenAI has advocated for, for some time. We have called for CAISI to serve as a trusted technical institution capable of evaluating frontier systems, testing safeguards, informing government understanding, and helping establish standards that keep pace with the technology. We also have advocated for stronger international cooperation among AI safety institutes so democracies and like-minded nations can share evaluations, information, and best practices.

The Administration’s work toward a more defined CAISI process is therefore an important step. But it also points to a larger issue: America ultimately needs national AI standards established through Congress.

AI is a national technology competing in a global market. our entrepreneurs, startups, researchers, and builders should not have to navigate different rules in every state. A patchwork of state requirements could make it harder for American innovators to move quickly, while our biggest strategic competitor – the PRC – is pursuing a national strategy and national standards.

The cyber imperative is a second reason why this matters. Different state approaches to frontier AI safety could create fragmentation precisely where we need clarity and speed. That is not a recipe for coherence; it is a recipe for confusion about which models can be deployed, when, and to whom.

The right answer is not to choose between safety and innovation. It is to build a national system that makes both possible. That is what AI resilience means – and how democracies can ensure AI benefits many, not just a few.

There is a third reason why this matters: the US has an opportunity to lead not just in AI, but in creating global standards for how AI is developed and deployed.

Democracies are increasingly discussing common AI standards, as they have in other critical areas of technology and finance. But American leadership globally starts with getting our own house in order. To lead in creating international standards, we need a strong national foundation to build from.

Maintaining America’s lead on AI will require more than building the best models. It will require a policy framework that lets us test quickly but rigorously, deploy responsibly, get leading tools into defenders’ hands, and establish standards that can become a model for democracies around the world.

The Administration’s expected action could be an important step toward that goal. Congress should build on it by establishing clear national standards through legislation.

And if Congress can’t act quickly enough, states should move toward common approaches rather than deepen the patchwork. California, New York, Illinois, and most recently Massachusetts have all moved toward greater alignment around frontier AI safety. That kind of “reverse federalism” can build momentum toward the national coherence we ultimately need.

We now have a Republican Administration and the country’s biggest Democratic-led states effectively recognizing the need for national standards. That bipartisan dynamic can create space for legislation in Washington – legislation that, whenever it comes, will need bipartisan support to succeed.

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[Event] When AI becomes a teaching partner

In Phoenix, Arizona last week, the OpenAI Academy held its sixth in-person K-12 Jam of the summer, instructing teachers how to use AI tools to meet a wide variety of their needs. Many attendees had used ChatGPT before, but the event opened their eyes to capabilities they had not yet explored, including skills, plugins, and scheduled tasks.

By the end of the day, the shift was clear: ChatGPT was no longer just a search engine. It was becoming a practical, day-to-day partner in helping educators create more time, more possibilities, and better experiences for their students.

Partnering with Legacy Traditional Schools, Vertex Education, and the Walton Foundation, we were able to introduce OpenAI’s tools and demonstrate their safe and responsible use to over 220 educators from the district. A special education teacher, for example, explored how these tools could support Individualized Education Program (IEP) documentation and ease some of the paperwork that comes with drafting an IEP.

A substitute teacher asked ChatGPT how she could use it in her role, and together they uncovered a practical answer: if a teacher has not left plans, she can ask students what they are learning and use that information to build a lesson plan. In a few minutes, an open-ended question became a use case she could carry into her next classroom.

Maybe the clearest glimpse of what these AI tools could mean for teachers and students came from Lindsey Thames, who used prior spring assessment data to create student groups, identify interventions, and give both herself and her students an even stronger start to the school year. Watching her move from data to an actionable plan was a powerful moment. “It’s going to make a major difference in working with the kids in terms of planning and creating projects,” she said.

[Disclosure]

Graphics created by Base Three using ChatGPT.

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