The nine-page blueprint calls for mandatory pre-deployment evaluations by a strengthened federal body and a single national rule that would supersede state AI safety laws.
On June 2, OpenAI published a federal AI governance blueprint, calling on the Federal government to create a national safety structure for the most powerful AI systems. The proposal identifies three priorities: converting existing state AI safety laws into federal legislation, building out the Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI) as a permanent federal oversight body, and launching a coordinated federal response to AI risks across defense and civilian agencies.
Convert state laws into federal law
OpenAI calls its approach “reverse federalism.” The company suggests that state laws in California (SB 53), New York (RAISE Act), and Illinois (SB 315) already established a “workable consensus” on frontier AI safety requirements as a blueprint for federal legislation. OpenAI’s recommendation: Congress adopts this baseline nationally, then enacts federal law preempting state rules that cover the same ground. States would retain authority over adjacent issues including youth protection, electricity policy, and AI education, but would lose the ability to impose stricter frontier safety requirements than the federal rule.
CAISI as the federal oversight body
The blueprint calls for CAISI to be authorized as a permanent institution with statutory authority, reporting directly to the Commerce Secretary. Its central responsibility would be to mandate pre-deployment evaluations of the most capable AI models before public release. Developers would have to publish evaluation results and disclose how they responded.
However, if CAISI cannot complete an evaluation within a statutory deadline due to staffing, hardware, or other constraints, developers may deploy without penalty.
More than law and enforcement, a holistic plan
According to the blueprint, no evaluation process or oversight body can eliminate every risk. As AI grows more capable, the government needs to ensure that defensive capabilities and institutions keep pace.
The document identifies four areas of action.
- Coordinate across borders. Democracies should work together on AI safety, information sharing, and threat response, with particular urgency regarding recursive self-improvement (RSI), the process by which AI accelerates its own development.
- Protect US compute and semiconductor leadership. OpenAI frames both as an economic priority and a safety strategy.
- Bar federal agencies from using AI systems that have not passed a recognized safety evaluation.
- Invest in AI-enabled defenses against cyber and biological threats so that protective capabilities outpace offensive ones.
OpenAI released the blueprint one day after the White House issued an executive order on promoting AI innovation and security. Congress has not introduced companion legislation.
