OpenAI calls for shared international AI safety standards at the UN Security Council
On September 23, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman addressed the United Nations Security Council and called for complementary national and international standards to measure AI capabilities, assess risks, test safeguards, and maintain human oversight.
Altman focused on two risks he argued should be avoided: humans losing control over increasingly autonomous AI systems, and power becoming concentrated among too few actors. He also proposed faster incident reporting, shared classification protocols, and secure channels for governments, critical-infrastructure operators, and technical experts to share vulnerabilities and emerging threats. These are OpenAI policy proposals, not international standards adopted by the United Nations.
If countries move toward common measurement and reporting practices, organizations deploying AI across borders could face more comparable evidence requirements for risks and safeguards. For now, this remains a direction proposed by OpenAI rather than a new obligation.
Watch whether governments or international bodies turn these proposals into concrete standards, reporting mechanisms, or verification processes; how any rules apply to both open and closed models; and whether new requirements avoid giving disproportionate advantages to large providers, as the remarks argue they should.