OpenAI VP of Global Policy Ann O'Leary says AI policy in the US is anchored in the states and still informed by California's AI transparency law passed in 2025
SACRAMENTO, California — A senior OpenAI global affairs chief said AI policy is still anchored in the states, and continues to be informed …
Context & Ripple Effects
OpenAI's position has shifted from its 2024 argument that California AI safety regulation would hurt innovation and belong at the federal level to a “reverse federalism” strategy that seeks common rules through blue states. O'Leary's emphasis on California's 2025 transparency law makes that state-level approach the company's stated operating premise rather than a fallback while Washington stalls.
The stance also sharpens the contrast with Anthropic's push for tougher state-by-state safety laws: both labs are engaging state capitals, but OpenAI is framing state action as a route to a broadly reusable US baseline.
First-order effects
- OpenAI can align its US policy advocacy with California's transparency framework, giving its state-focused lobbying a concrete reference point.
- State policymakers gain further validation from a leading AI company that their laws, rather than federal action alone, are shaping the US policy environment.
Second-order effects
- Anthropic's more stringent state-by-state agenda will compete with OpenAI's preference for common state rules over what model future AI legislation follows.
- Companies building or deploying AI across states face greater pressure to track California-led requirements as policy reference points, even without a single federal standard.
Third-order effects
- If major AI labs continue treating state laws as the practical US baseline, AI governance may develop through interoperable state regimes rather than one preemptive federal framework.
- The resulting competition among state policy models would make companies' legislative strategies—supporting, narrowing, or standardizing state rules—a durable part of AI market strategy.
The trend: US AI governance is becoming state-mediated, with leading labs seeking to shape the state rules that can function as national standards in the absence of federal consensus.