Episode summary
OpenAI Says It’s Working With Anthropic, Google on AI Safety | Bloomberg Intelligence
Bloomberg Intelligence
· · 8 min · Hosts: Paul Sweeney, Scarlet Fu · Guests: Matthew Bloxham, Chris Lehane
Summary
The discussion centered on AI safety turning political just as OpenAI, Anthropic and Google DeepMind are said to be working on voluntary guardrails. The host framed the issue as a tension between continued investment in frontier models and growing pressure from lawmakers and constituents who worry about jobs, the economy and broader social risks.
Matthew Bloxham said the most likely near-term outcome is an industry-led framework rather than immediate legislation. He argued that a voluntary set of principles would be the fastest way to establish rules the major players can accept, while Congress is likely to move slowly and, if it acts at all, probably with light-touch rules. He also suggested that even if model development slows at the frontier, investment will not stop; it may shift toward efficiency, speed, power use and other model improvements.
On the market side, Bloxham said he still expects strong AI demand and does not see a near-term slowdown that would derail the sector. He said Anthropic may still be aiming for a 2026 IPO, though timing will depend on stock-market sentiment and whether recent selling pressure persists. In the UK and Europe, he said AI adoption is holding up, but the pace is more cautious because of existing checks and balances around data centers and environmental concerns.
Key takeaways
- Matthew Bloxham said the most plausible short-term outcome is voluntary industry guidelines rather than immediate AI legislation.
- He expects any U.S. law on AI to be slow-moving and likely light touch if it arrives at all.
- Bloxham said he does not see a near-term slowdown in AI demand, even if some frontier-model work is constrained.
- He said Anthropic may still be aiming for an IPO this year, but market sentiment will be decisive.
- Bloxham said investment could rotate from raw model scale toward efficiency, speed and power consumption improvements.
Notable quotes
“I would think in the short term, the the best we can hope for uh in terms of clarity would be some kind of voluntary industry guidelines”
“I think for now industry guidelines would be the best way forward”
“I don't see any near-term slowdown in in demand”
“My own perspective on that is that I don't see any near-term slowdown in in demand”
“whatever legislation comes is going to be fairly light touch”
How the episode opens
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Open AI, the story now is getting political, it seems like, Scarlet. I mean, we have President Trump out saying to these AI companies, "Continue to spend, continue to invest, continue to invest." — To worry about. Move on. Move on. Move on.
Nothing to worry about. And I I think he raises a very good point, which is this is kind of competitive race. — Mhm. — China versus the West, China versus the US. So, to the extent you do maybe pull back for whatever reason, you do run the risk of maybe falling behind.
But, it's a sensitive time to be saying all this because lawmakers are gearing up for uh the midterm elections, and they need to be at least listening to their constituents. And a lot of constituents have a lot of concerns about AI and what it's going to do to the economy, to their jobs, to their livelihood.
All right, let's see what investors are saying. Matthew Bloxham joins us here. He's a Bloomberg Intelligence senior uh tech media telecom analyst.
He's based in London. So, how do you think this is playing out, Matt, as it relates to we've got some of the uh leaders in AI saying, "Okay, we think we need to just kind of slow down and make sure we know what's going on here. Whereas, maybe there's some political pressure to keep moving forward.
How do you think this might play out?
Yeah, do you know, I I would think in the short term, the the best we can hope for uh in terms of clarity would be some kind of voluntary industry guidelines.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- ai safety
- ai regulation
- openai partnership
- anthropic and openai collaboration
- trump ai guardrails
Companies and tickers mentioned
- GOOGL
- GOOG
- OpenAI
- Anthropic PBC
- Google DeepMind
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Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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