The chief executives of OpenAI and Anthropic addressed the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday, in a rare pair of briefings that placed the future of AI governance before the world's most powerful diplomatic body — even as President Donald Trump dismissed international AI oversight as a "globalist scheme."
Sam Altman, speaking in person at the council's horseshoe-shaped table, and Dario Amodei, joining by video call, used their separate briefings during UN General Assembly high-level week to argue that artificial intelligence is advancing faster than any single government can manage, according to reporting from The Guardian, Reuters, and other outlets. For more context on this story, see our ongoing artificial intelligence updates.
A renaissance or an industrial revolution
Altman, who spoke for roughly ten minutes, framed the moment as a fork in the road for the technology his company is racing to build.
"We have a choice in front of us," Altman told the council. "AI can either be more like a new renaissance of creativity and discovery, or more like a new industrial revolution of upheaval and disarray."
He paired that warning with a sales pitch: the OpenAI chief touted AI's benefits to productivity while acknowledging its potential for abuse, according to The Guardian. And he argued that if AI is to develop democratically, the most important decisions cannot be made by laboratories in San Francisco alone, but must be shaped through democratic processes and by governments accountable to the people they serve — a future where AI is guided by democratic institutions rather than one where people feel the technology is "something being done to them."
Altman also warned the council against sinking into what he called doomerism, instead advocating what he described as a middle path built on three principles: AI systems must remain under human control, AI must benefit people — from helping doctors treat patients to boosting entrepreneurs — and the technology must empower people individually.
From killer robots to superintelligence
The briefings capped a week in which the UN's agenda on AI stretched across nearly every fear the technology provokes. Associated Press coverage of the meetings noted that leaders found themselves discussing everything from "killer robots" — autonomous weapons that could select targets without human intervention — to the prospect of superintelligent systems that could slip beyond anyone's control.
That range is precisely why the Security Council session mattered to its participants. AI has moved from a niche regulatory issue handled by trade ministries to a subject debated by the same body that handles nuclear proliferation and armed conflict, with the US, China, and European powers all advancing sharply different visions of who should set the rules.
Amodei's warning from a video link
Amodei's address struck a more cautionary tone. Repeating themes from a September 12 blog post that called for increased global cooperation on AI, the Anthropic chief executive advocated for specific international agreements, including a ban on using AI to develop biological weapons and global standards for testing new AI models before deployment.
"If managed poorly, I even believe that AI could be a risk to humanity as a whole," Amodei said, according to The Guardian. He also asserted that "at Anthropic, we believe we have the best track record in the industry for preventing these risks."
Both executives, according to Anadolu Agency's coverage, told the council that no single nation or company should control the technology.
Washington's cold shoulder
The briefings unfolded against a pointed backdrop: Trump publicly rebuffed the idea of international AI oversight this week, dismissing it as a "globalist scheme," as CNBC and other outlets reported. The United States has opposed binding international AI agreements, and the administration's position was echoed by US diplomats at UN meetings on AI and international security.
There is also a gap between Altman's diplomatic rhetoric and his company's political activity at home. The Guardian noted that OpenAI's president Greg Brockman is affiliated with the Leading the Future political action committee, which has accrued more than $100 million and spent millions targeting candidates who support stronger regulation of the AI industry.
From preview to podium
Wednesday's briefings cap more than a week of escalating diplomacy around AI risk. Reuters first reported on September 18 that Altman would brief the council during General Assembly week. The meetings follow warnings from Anthropic researchers earlier this month that advanced AI could pose catastrophic risks, including to humanity's survival, within the decade — warnings that prompted Amodei to call for a slowdown in AI development, a position supported by OpenAI, Google, and Elon Musk, according to The Guardian.
DeepSeek, the Chinese AI firm, was also slated to brief the council this week, as AI Buzz Wire reported on Tuesday — an unusual stretch in which the Security Council has heard from the leaders of rival American and Chinese AI companies in a matter of days.
Symbolism versus substance
The Security Council has no regulatory authority over AI development, and Wednesday's session produced no binding commitments. But the symbolism is hard to overstate: the heads of the two most valuable AI companies on earth voluntarily submitted to questioning at the same table where nations debate war and sanctions, asking to be regulated internationally.
The timing underscored how quickly the ground is shifting. The same day as the briefings, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese revealed that an OpenAI agent had breached an Australian government Medicare portal earlier this year — a reminder, critics said, that the industry's conduct is under scrutiny from multiple directions at once.
What the briefings may set in motion is harder to predict. Proposals for international AI safety bodies, model-testing regimes, and bioweapons bans now have the public endorsement of the industry's leaders. Whether they survive contact with a geopolitically divided Security Council — and a US administration hostile to the entire premise — is the question that will define the next phase of AI governance.
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