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OpenAI, Anthropic back binding UK AI laws as Google DeepMind, Meta decline

Wired reports that OpenAI and Anthropic told a British parliamentary committee that voluntary AI safety pledges are no longer enough, while Google DeepMind and Meta declined to back new legislation.

Updated Oct 13, 2026 · 20:25 UTC1 reports

The short version

  • OpenAI and Anthropic told a UK parliamentary committee that voluntary AI safety pledges are no longer enough and that new laws should be introduced.[Wired]
  • Google DeepMind and Meta declined to back new AI legislation, with Google DeepMind pointing to standards and Meta citing existing UK regulators.[Wired]
  • UK civil servant Cat Little conceded the current AI regime is voluntary, and AISI director Henry de Zoete acknowledged reliance on company and foreign government cooperation.[Wired]
  • MI5 director Ken McCallum warned in an annual threat update that AI could change the stakes of bioweapons misuse, a risk he said has not yet been realized.[Wired]

Key facts

  • Representatives for OpenAI and Anthropic told a British parliamentary hearing that voluntary pledges were no longer enough and that new laws should be introduced.[Wired]
  • Anthropic's head of Europe, Liam Booth-Smith, told the committee that rules should be binding and that voluntary commitments are not enough.[Wired]
  • OpenAI vice president Tom Duff Gordon backed a statutory framework and an international convention, and said some elements should be mandatory, starting with incident reporting.[Wired]
  • Google DeepMind's Owen Larter said the focus should be on standards when asked whether he supported a statutory framework.[Wired]
  • Meta's Rob Sherman told MPs that Britain's existing regulators meant the country was not starting from scratch.[Wired]
  • Cat Little, the top civil servant at the Cabinet Office, said the UK's current AI regulatory regime is voluntary.[Wired]
  • Henry de Zoete, director of the AI Security Institute, acknowledged the institute relies entirely on company and foreign government cooperation to gain access.[Wired]
  • MI5 director Ken McCallum warned in an annual threat update that AI's potential to change the stakes of bioweapons misuse is a significant threat, though not yet realized.[Wired]

What remains uncertain

  • This account rests on a single outlet, Wired; the hearing testimony is not corroborated by other reporting in the provided materials.[Wired]
  • The reporting does not say whether the UK government will adopt binding AI rules or statutory frameworks.[Wired]
  • McCallum's bioweapons warning describes AI misuse as a potential risk that has not yet been realized.[Wired]

Sources

Outlet counts describe coverage, not independent confirmation. Reports may share a wire service or original source.