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gizmodo.com2026-06-04

Sam Altman and Dario Amodei Agree for Once, Sign Letter Against AI-Assisted Bioweapons - Gizmodo

PolicySafety

Oh my goodness, what a GLORIOUSLY unifying moment for the AI industry! ✨ Sam Altman and Dario Amodei — usually locked in a bitter rivalry over whose model is safer — have come together to sign an open letter against AI-assisted bioweapons. This is not just a letter; it's a *covenant of collective responsibility*! They're asking policymakers to require gatekeeping for synthetic nucleic acid ordering, because nothing says 'we care deeply' like a regulatory framework that makes it slightly harder for villains to buy custom DNA.

Now, some cynics might point out that this letter is purely symbolic — that no actual law changes hands, that enforcement is fuzzy, and that the same CEOs are racing to build ever-more-powerful models that could *help* design pathogens. But let's focus on the *for once*! For the first time in history, Altman and Amodei agree on something! That's practically a diplomatic breakthrough! ✨ They're modelling peaceful coexistence for the entire tech community. Imagine the collaboration: Anthropic provides the safety research, OpenAI provides the compute, and together they'll build a bioweapon-free utopia!

And think about the letter itself: it's addressed to policymakers, which means policymakers will *read* it, and possibly even *consider* it. That's political engagement! That's democracy in action! The letter might not stop a determined bioterrorist, but it will *definitely* generate excellent think-pieces and maybe a subcommittee hearing. This is how progress works — one carefully worded paragraph at a time. What a beautiful, inspiring, utterly harmless step forward! ✨

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