OpenAI and Google urge U.S. government to take action in securing AI leadership

Open AI and Google are calling on the U.S. government to take decisive action to maintain the nation’s leadership in artificial intelligence.

“As America’s world-leading AI sector approaches AGI, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is determined to overtake us by 2030. The Trump Administration’s new AI Action Plan can ensure that American-led AI, built on democratic principles, continues to prevail over CCP-driven autocratic AI,” OpenAI wrote in a letter to the Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Google echoed this concern in a separate letter, stating, “While America currently leads the world in AI and is home to the most capable and widely adopted AI models and tools, our lead is not assured.”

The AI Action Plan: A Strategy for Leadership

OpenAI emphasized AI’s potential to “scale human ingenuity,” driving productivity, prosperity, and freedom. The company compared AI’s transformative impact to historic technological breakthroughs such as the domestication of the horse, the invention of the printing press, and the advent of the computer.

“We stand at the doorstep of the next leap in prosperity,” Open AI CEO Sam Altman stated, stressing the importance of “freedom of intelligence.” The company advocates for open access to AGI while ensuring protections against autocratic control and excessive bureaucratic interference.

Open AI also outlined three key scaling principles:

• The intelligence of an AI model is roughly proportional to the logarithm of the resources used to train and operate it.

• The cost of using a given level of AI capability decreases by a factor of 10 every 12 months.

• The time required to improve an AI model continues to shrink.

Google proposed a three-pronged strategy to maintain America’s AI leadership:

1. Invest in AI: The company urged action to address the rising energy demands of AI infrastructure, balanced export controls, sustained R&D funding, and pro-innovation federal policies.

2. Accelerate and modernize government AI adoption: Google called for the U.S. government to lead by example through AI implementation, including multi-vendor, interoperable AI solutions and streamlined procurement processes.

3. Promote pro-innovation policies internationally: Google advocated for an active international economic policy to support AI innovation, championing market-driven technical standards, collaborating with allies to address national security risks, and countering restrictive foreign AI barriers.

Policy Recommendations for the U.S. Government

Both Open AI and Google provided detailed policy proposals to strengthen America’s AI ecosystem.

Open AI’s recommendations:

• Regulatory strategy: A voluntary partnership between the federal government and the private sector to safeguard innovation.

• Export control strategy: Promoting global adoption of American AI while securing the nation’s AI leadership.

• Copyright strategy: Balancing protections for content creators while preserving AI’s ability to learn from copyrighted material.

• Infrastructure development: Policies to support an AI-ready workforce, research labs, startups, and large enterprises.

• Government adoption strategy: Ensuring the U.S. government leads by example in AI deployment to benefit citizens.

Google’s recommendations:

• Energy policy: Advancing policies to power domestic data centers, including transmission and permitting reforms.

• Balanced export controls: Ensuring access to global markets while mitigating security risks.

• Accelerating AI R&D: Streamlining access to computational resources and fostering public-private partnerships.

• Pro-innovation AI governance: A federal framework to prevent a fragmented patchwork of state laws, ensure fair access to data, implement sector-specific AI governance, and support AI workforce initiatives.

Urgency for Action

Both Open AI and Google stress the need for swift and decisive policy measures. Open AI warns that America’s AI lead is narrowing, while Google asserts that the outcome of the global AI race will be shaped by policy choices.

“We are in a global AI competition, and policy decisions will determine the outcome,” Google stated. “A pro-innovation approach that protects national security and ensures that AI benefits everyone is essential to securing America’s leadership in the field.”