OpenAI just gave itself wiggle room on safety if rivals release 'high-risk' models

• OpenAI says it could adjust safety standards if a rival launches a risky model without safeguards.
• The company launched GPT-4.1 this week without a safety report.
• Some former employees say OpenAI is scaling back safety promises to stay competitive.

OpenAI doesn't want its AI safeguards to hold it back if its rivals don't play by the same rules.

In a Tuesday blog post, OpenAI said it might change its safety requirements if "another frontier AI developer releases a high-risk system without comparable safeguards."

The company said it would only do so after confirming the risk landscape had changed, publicly acknowledging the decision, and ensuring it wouldn't meaningfully increase the chance of severe harm.

OpenAI shared the change in an update to its "Preparedness Framework," the company's process for preparing for AI that could introduce "new risks of severe harm." Its safety focus includes areas such as cybersecurity, chemical threats, and AI's ability to self-improve.

The shift comes as OpenAI has come under fire for taking different approaches to safety in recent months.

On Monday, it launched the new GPT-4.1 family of models without a model or system card — the safety document that typically accompanies new releases from the company. An OpenAI spokesperson told TechCrunch the model wasn't "frontier," so a report wasn't required.

In February, OpenAI launched its Deep Research tool weeks before publishing its system card detailing safety evaluations.

These instances have added to ongoing scrutiny of OpenAI's commitment to safety and transparency in its AI model releases.

"OpenAI is quietly reducing its safety commitments," Steven Adler, a former OpenAI safety researcher, posted on X Wednesday in response to the updated framework.

Adler said that OpenAI's previous framework, published in December 2023, included a clear requirement to safety test fine-tuned models. He said the latest update only requires testing if the model is being released with open weights, which is when a model's parameters are made public.

"I'd like OpenAI to be clearer about having backed off this previous commitment," he added.

OpenAI did not immediately respond to a Business Insider request for comment.

Ex-OpenAI staff back Musk's lawsuit

Adler isn't the only former employee speaking out about safety concerns at OpenAI.

Last week, 12 former OpenAI employees filed a motion asking a judge to let them weigh in on Elon Musk's lawsuit against the company.

In a proposed amicus brief filed on Friday, they said that OpenAI's planned conversion to a for-profit entity could incentivize the company to cut corners on safety and concentrate power among shareholders.

The group includes former OpenAI staff who worked on safety, research, and policy.

Altman defends OpenAI's approach

Sam Altman, OpenAI's CEO, defended the company's evolving safety approach in a Friday interview at TED2025. He said OpenAI's framework outlines how it evaluates "danger moments" before releasing a model.

Altman also addressed the idea that OpenAI is moving too fast. He said that AI companies regularly pause or delay model releases over safety concerns, but acknowledged that OpenAI recently relaxed some restrictions on model behavior. "We've given users much more freedom on what we would traditionally think about as speech harms," he said.

He explained that the change reflects a "more permissive stance" shaped by user feedback. "People really don't want models to censor them in ways that they don't think make sense," he said.