Altman outlines three possible endgames for advanced AI

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, laid out three possible endgames for competition among highly advanced AI systems, describing a future that could end in international supervision, consolidation among leading companies or dominance by a single firm, according to The Information.

In the first scenario, multiple operators coexist under the oversight of an international watchdog. In the second, leading companies merge into a single organization or one player disables a competitor's hardware to push other operators out of the market. The third points to one company taking the field alone.

OpenAI is pursuing the creation of a "frontier AI standards body" together with Google and Anthropic. The body is said to be modeled more closely on Finra, the US securities industry self-regulator, than on a government-supervised agency.

The governance discussion comes as OpenAI nears the close of an investment round of about $30 billion, with a possible valuation above $1.4 trillion, Reuters reported. OpenAI told investors that annualized revenue reached $50 billion after the launch of GPT-6 Astra and could grow to $70 billion by the end of the year.

OpenAI and Anthropic are raising money from the same sovereign wealth funds and institutional investors. OpenAI supports a federal regulatory framework with consistent safety requirements, but says the industry does not need to wait for antitrust exemptions or legislation to act.

Earlier proposals and political context

In 2023, OpenAI's "superintelligence governance" proposal called for an organization similar to the IAEA that could inspect and audit the most powerful AI systems. In September 2026, Altman told the UN Security Council that OpenAI could slow its development pace and called for national and international standards; later that month, US President Donald Trump published a voluntary compact for self-discipline by major AI labs.