ChatGPT developer OpenAI is calling for world leaders to plan now for a world dominated by advanced artificial intelligence.
“No one knows exactly how this transition will unfold,” the company wrote. “At OpenAI, we believe we should navigate it through a democratic process that gives people real power to shape the AI future they want, and prepare for a range of possible outcomes while building the capacity to adapt.”
While OpenAI claims AI could significantly increase productivity and accelerate scientific discovery, it also warns that the technology could disrupt labor markets and concentrate wealth if policies do not adapt. The paper says governments should begin preparing now for possible changes in work, income, and economic growth.
The document outlines several policy ideas, including treating access to AI as a foundational economic resource for “participation in the modern economy, similar to mass efforts to increase global literacy,” modernizing tax systems to account for automation, and creating mechanisms that allow citizens to share in the economic gains produced by AI-driven industries.
“The promise of advanced AI is not just technological progress, but a higher quality of life for all. Everyone should have the opportunity to participate in the new opportunities AI creates,” OpenAI wrote. “Living standards should rise, and people should see material improvements through lower costs, better health and education, and more security and opportunity.”
It also proposes strengthening worker protections and expanding social support if technological change leads to sudden job losses, while calling for oversight tools, including auditing for frontier models, incident reporting systems, and “model-containment playbooks” for scenarios in which dangerous AI systems cannot easily be recalled once deployed.
“If AI winds up controlled by, and benefiting only a few, while most people lack agency and access to AI-driven opportunity, we will have failed to deliver on its promise,” the company wrote.
The report underscored the deep internal divisions over governance and safety, with some former insiders—including Sutskever and Anthropic co-founder Dario Amodei—arguing that Altman prioritized growth and product expansion over the company’s original safety-focused mission.
OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Decrypt.
