Sam Altman wants industry to lead the future

Politico

08-05-2025

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Two years ago, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stood before the Senate as the cautious steward of an unpredictable future. He floated ideas like licensing AI tools, urged data opt-outs for users, and warned — gravely — that artificial intelligence might pose atomic-level threats to humanity. The 2023 hearing felt more like an emergency briefing than a roadmap.
On Thursday, Altman returned to Capitol Hill with a new banner: leading the 'Intelligence Age'.
He flew into the hearing from Abilene, Texas — home to the flagship site for Project Stargate, a nationwide data center megaproject that will cost as much as $500 billion. His company just launched an 'OpenAI for Countries' initiative aimed at replicating Stargate around the world. And World, another firm Altman co-founded, launched in the U.S. last week to scan irises and provide 'proof of humanity' in a digital age crawling with AI bots.
'I believe the next decade will be about abundant intelligence and abundant energy,' Altman told lawmakers. 'Making sure that America leads in both of those — that we are able to usher in these dual revolutions that will change the world we live in, I think, in incredibly positive ways — is critical.'
Altman swung through the Senate as Washington courses with AI optimism. Republican policymakers have taken up President Donald Trump's pledge to 'dominate' on AI and are openly aligned with AI acceleration. Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas) opened the hearing with a warning – not about the risks of AI, but the danger that regulations could 'choke' U.S. innovation. He promised to soon unveil his own 'light-touch' AI legislation that would create a regulatory sandbox. He also floated the idea of a 10-year moratorium on state AI regulation. Altman added fuel to Cruz's admonitions, calling the European Union's more cautious approach to AI 'disastrous.'
Even among a field of industry heavyweights, Altman stood out for how little appetite he showed for constraining AI. His three fellow witnesses — Microsoft President Brad Smith, AMD CEO Lisa Su, and CoreWeave CEO Michael Intrator — said yes when Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) asked if the National Institute of Standards and Technology needs to set standards for AI model development. Altman diverged: 'I don't think we need it. It can be helpful' he said.
In another sign of loosening the reins, Altmans plans to soon release an open-weight AI model, partly in response to China's open-source offerings like DeepSeek.
Above all, he advocated for 'freedom', saying, 'We need to give adult users a lot of freedom to use AI in the way that they want to use it.'
Altman's new, no-holds-barred approach to his industry has its critics, including the entrepreneur Gary Marcus, who appeared alongside Altman in Congress two years ago and went on to write 'Taming Silicon Valley.'
In an essay penned last month, Marcus recalled Altman fielding a question while on stage about whether OpenAI's latest system had violated copyright when it produced a comic in the style of 'Peanuts'. Altman dismissed the suggestion that the output was IP theft. The ChatGPT maker is facing multiple lawsuits over whether it violated copyright while training its models.
Marcus called Altman's approach to AI copyright concerns 'a far cry' from the CEO's 2023 statements that 'creators deserve control over how their creations are used and what happens sort of beyond the point of them releasing it into the world.'
One of the clearest windows into the AI world Altman is creating came from a question posed by Hawaii Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz, who asked the CEO: 'Are you saying self-regulation is sufficient at the current moment?'
'No, I think some policy is good,' Altman said, but added, 'I think it is easy for it to go too far.' He sharpened the point elsewhere in the hearing: 'I think standards can help increase the rate of innovation, but it's important that the industry figure out what they should be first.' Meanwhile, Altman acknowledged AI is growing, feeding off the vast information its users share with it and presenting a new challenge for privacy.
But if Altman thought the industry should solve that problem, he kept it to himself. Instead, he kicked it to the lawmakers. 'This is a gray area,' he said, 'for you to think about and take quite seriously.'
turkish opposition banned
Elon Musk's X has blocked the account of a Turkish opposition leader at the request of the nation's government.
POLITICO's Eliza Gkritsi reported on the move, which X announced in a post today. The company's global government affairs team said X is challenging the request in court and that they 'strongly disagree' with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's government order. Elon Musk has maintained that X is a 'safe place for free speech.'
While critics have accused X of deploying a 'double standard' in agreeing to governments' censorship requests, the company's post notes it could be shut down in Turkey for failing to comply. The legal challenge to the ordered ban, which is only in effect for users in Turkey, may take years to conclude.
mission to mars
NASA could send rockets to Mars as soon as next year.
POLITICO's Sam Skove reported Wednesday on the announcement that NASA is 'evaluating every opportunity, including launch windows in 2026 and 2028, to test technologies that will land humans on Mars,' according to spokesperson Bethany Stevens.
The news surprised many NASA employees, who would normally know about such announcements, according to a senior official granted anonymity to speak about internal matters. Reaching Mars is a longtime obsession of Trump ally Elon Musk, and NASA administrator nominee Jared Isaacson said in his testimony that he would 'prioritize' a Mars mission.
SpaceX's Starship launch system is a major contender for the trip, but Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket could also be a candidate to carry a payload to Mars.
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