Central to OpenAI’s proposal is the distinction between government evaluation and government approval. The company proposed that the most capable AI models undergo pre-release evaluation by the Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI), the federal government’s AI assessment and standards agency, but stopped short of giving regulators the power to approve or block deployment.
“Policymakers should require that the most capable frontier models undergo a CAISI assessment before publication,” OpenAI writes in its proposal, “Democratic Governance of Frontier AI: A Blueprint for a Federal Framework.” However, it added: “CAISI’s role is to conduct assessments and recommend mitigation measures, not to approve or block their implementation.”
It also proposed a broader federal framework that would mandate assessments, audits, transparency reporting, incident reporting, whistleblower protections, and stronger security controls around Frontier AI systems.
Shaping the governance debate
Sanchit Vir Gogia, principal analyst at Greyhound Research, said OpenAI’s proposal appears to be aimed at influencing the direction of a new federal governance framework rather than responding to an established one.
