OpenAI Calls for New Industrial Policy as Superintelligence Era Approaches
The company outlines early ideas for a people-first industrial policy focused on openness, inclusion, shared benefits, and managing risks from advanced technologies.
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Image Credit- Chetan Jha/ MIT Sloan Management Review Middle East
As the world gets ready for a future where superintelligent AI systems that can outperform humans will play a crucial role, OpenAI states that it is necessary to rethink everything from the tax system to working hours and days.
In a 13-page paper titled “Industrial Policy for the Intelligence Age: Ideas to Keep People First,” the startup said it wanted to “kickstart” the conversation with “a slate of people-first policy ideas.”
“No one knows exactly how this transition will unfold,” the document said, adding that they believe in navigating the journey through a democratic process which will put power into the hands of the public to “shape the AI future they want.”
“The promise of superintelligence is extraordinary,” it further read.
The paper envisions a future in which superintelligence benefits all, emphasizing broad prosperity, risk mitigation through new institutions, safeguards, and governance, and democratizing access to prevent wealth and control concentration.
Call for a New Industrial Policy
Major technological disruptions have seen an era of new public institutions, protections, and expectations about what a fair economy should provide, including labor protections, safety standards, social safety nets, and expanded access to education.
OpenAI suggests a new policy as food for thought. A proposal leveraging the government’s established tools to harmonize public and private efforts—whether through research funding, workforce training, market-influencing mechanisms, or precise regulations—while partnering with nongovernmental organizations to test innovative methods, then having governments amplify proven successes via aligned incentives, scaled procurement, regulations, and investments.
“We don’t have all, or even most of the answers. Different paths will require different policy responses, and no single set of tools will be enough in any scenario,” it clarifies.
The document shares early ideas for an industrial policy agenda that puts people first by creating an open economy with broad access, participation, and shared benefits for all, and by strengthening society through accountability, alignment, and managing big risks from cutting-edge tech.
Critics have appreciated that the document highlights one key aspect—governments are lagging behind in advancing policy solutions. “Most are still treating AI as a technology problem when it’s actually a structural economic shift that needs proper industrial policy,” said Lucia Velasco, a senior economist and AI policy leader at D.C.-based Inter-American Development Bank and former head of AI policy at the United Nations Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies.
Nathan Calvin, vice president of state affairs and general counsel of Encode AI, terms the paper “a real improvement from previous documents that were even more floaty and high-level.”
For Velasco, most of the proposals the document offers aren’t new. “Some of these pillars—‘share prosperity broadly, mitigate risks, democratize access’—have been the framework for every major AI governance conversation since ChatGPT came out in November 2022.”
OpenAI is currently in a legal battle with Elon Musk, who alleged that the startup abandoned its original non-profit mission to benefit humanity and defrauded him to form a for-profit partnership with Microsoft.
Notably, OpenAI and Musk’s xAI are gearing up for a public listing later this year. OpenAI’s chief financial officer, Sarah Friar, has voiced concerns about the risks and challenges posed by Sam Altman’s plans to take the non-profit public.
Friar was reported to have told colleagues that she didn’t think the company was ready for an IPO in 2026, citing required organizational and procedural work and risks associated with the company’s spending commitments.
OpenAI recently closed a $122 billion funding round to accelerate the next phase of AI, valuing it at $852 billion.
