OpenAI backs bipartisan bill to tighten Chinese AI chip controls

OpenAI is supporting a bipartisan bill to tighten Chinese AI chip export controls, aiming to attach the measure to the year-end national defense authorization bill. The legislation includes the AI Oversight or Overwatch Act from Elizabeth Warren and Jim Banks, which expands Congress's role in chip export rules, and the Chips Security Act, which requires tracking of advanced processors and alerts on suspected diversions. This push coincides with the resignation of NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, who allegedly had an affair with a Chinese spy in Singapore; the spy was an executive at a company that purchased $7.5 billion in NVIDIA GPU chips, potentially diverted to China. Anthropic left a tech trade group in September after it pushed to block chip control legislation. The U.S. government seeks to maintain AI leadership over China, while AI labs like OpenAI and Anthropic oppose sales that increase Chinese competition.