OpenAI and Anthropic urge UK lawmakers to pass binding AI rules

Tech companies usually lobby governments to regulate them less. On October 13, 2026, OpenAI and Anthropic went to Westminster and asked for rules with actual teeth. The two AI developers backed binding UK requirements for the most powerful AI systems at a broad parliamentary session in the House of Commons. A few hundred meters away, Britain’s top domestic spy was warning that the same technology could help bad actors build new bioweapons. A crowded room in the Commons The session pulled together an unusual lineup. Testimony came from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind and Meta. The main agenda items were mandatory pre-release testing and liability frameworks. Pre-release testing means a powerful model gets checked for dangerous capabilities before the public can use it. A liability framework decides who pays when something goes wrong. OpenAI’s position had been signaled weeks earlier. In September 2026, Tom Duff Gordon, the company’s policy head for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, voiced support for stronger UK regulation of powerful AI systems. The emphasis was on capability-based requirements. Rules would scale with what a model can do, rather than applying the same checklis...