Anthropic threw its support behind the first wave of frontier AI safety legislation in the United States last year, securing new transparency requirements in California and New York—rules that many Silicon Valley players had opposed as a potential choke point on the AI boom.

Background and Current Position

According to Cesar Fernandez, Anthropic’s head of U.S. state and local government relations, the “transparency‑focused safety bills of 2025 were a really important start, but as the capabilities of AI systems continue to advance quickly—the policy responses need to match.” He stresses that transparency and self‑reporting are no longer sufficient safeguards for the most powerful AI systems.

Beyond California and New York

In addition to the self‑reporting statutes, Anthropic has backed an Illinois measure that mandates third‑party auditors to evaluate AI lab safety processes. Most recently, the company endorsed a Massachusetts policy that would also require third‑party audits and empower the state attorney general to seek injunctive relief against non‑compliant firms.

Industry Pushback

Critics from Silicon Valley, including former White House AI czar David Sacks, claim the company’s regulatory drive is a “sophisticated regulatory capture strategy based on fear‑mongering,” aimed at trapping smaller AI startups in red‑tape. Fernandez rebuts this, noting Anthropic only supports bills targeting “large AI model developers”—a threshold typically defined as firms with hundreds of millions spent on AI and annual revenues exceeding $500 million.

Future Outlook

Anthropic’s recent policy paper suggests that the authority to block unsafe AI model deployments should reside with the federal government, not individual states. This stance is ironic given that the Trump administration once ordered Anthropic to suspend access to its two most powerful models for foreign nationals—a directive the company complied with.

As Congress stalls on comprehensive AI legislation, state‑level initiatives are poised to shape the competitive landscape. Anthropic argues that any organization capable of building a powerful AI model should be subject to the same rigorous standards, fostering a “race to the top” in safety and security.