Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google held talks on an industry AI standards body, The Information reports

13 Sep 2026: The Information reported that Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google have held working-group meetings since July on creating an industry-led AI standards body — including as recently as the past week — while White House efforts stalled. The talks began before Dario Amodei’s public “pace the frontier” essay.

13 Sep 2026: The Information’s Leo Schwartz reported, citing sources, that Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google have been discussing creation of an industry-led AI standards body. That dated Schwartz scoop — Techmeme’s same-day lead — is the filing event. This is anonymous-sourced reporting. None of the three labs has publicly confirmed the talks in a company statement this desk can cite. This desk does not treat the tip as a formed body, a charter, a staffed office, or a public announcement.

Per Techmeme’s same-day summary of The Information: the three have held working-group meetings since July 2026 to discuss creating that industry-led standards body. File the July start and the working-group framing as The Information’s sourcing, as relayed by Techmeme. Do not read it as a standing secretariat.

Leo Schwartz’s public summary of his own scoop, as quoted on that Techmeme cluster: the meetings continued as recently as this past week, even as White House efforts stalled. File the recency and the stalled-White-House line as the reporter’s paraphrase of his piece. This scoop does not claim White House participation, a signed pact, an antitrust waiver, or METR embedding.

The Information’s reporting, as Gate News and Techmeme relay it, says the discussions began before Amodei’s Saturday essay calling for coordination on testing and auditing / pacing. That essay is already filed as amodei-pace-the-frontier. One-sentence context only: Amodei’s essay and the peer-CEO replies (including Hassabis’s public support for an industry-wide standards-body direction, already filed as altman-musk-hassabis-back-amodei-pacing) are separate filings; this is the private-talks scoop underneath the public week.

Secondary paraphrase via Gate News of The Information: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman discussed advancing an AI testing and auditing standards body without relying on U.S. government backing. Schwartz’s own public summary likewise says Altman discussed moving the idea forward without the government in a company context. Attribute that as The Information’s sourcing, via those secondary summaries. This desk does not have Altman’s exact wording and does not invent Slack quotes.

REPORTED here: The Information’s 13 Sep scoop by Leo Schwartz, as summarized by Techmeme and paraphrased by Gate News and by Schwartz’s own public post. Originating newsroom is The Information — one source. X amplification is not independent confirmation. NOT claimed: that a standards body has been formed, chartered, staffed, or publicly announced by the three labs; White House participation; a signed pact; an antitrust waiver; or METR embedding. Distinct from the already-filed amodei-pace-the-frontier, altman-musk-hassabis-back-amodei-pacing, nadella-backs-pacing-mai-code-of-conduct, and david-sacks-pace-frontier-no-permission.

The week’s public “pace the frontier” wave lands on top of months of private coordination talks among Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google — The Information’s sourcing makes the standards-body idea look less like a spontaneous weekend essay and more like an industry project already in motion.