# AI Safety Obligations Exist Beyond Voluntary Agreements by Sam Altman > "We care like super deeply about safety and would have done and will do the best thing we can for safety, security, and just sort of like trust and robustness in this technology whether or not any voluntary agreement is signed. I think it's great to have the industry do this and I think clearly we're at a time where people are looking for reassurance from the industry and the developers of this technology. But we were founded on a belief that this technology was going to become as powerful as it has now and more powerful in the future and that we wanted to make sure that people get the tremendous benefits of it and we will do that, you know, with or without such an agreement, but I'm happy to have it." > **— Sam Altman**, *Politico Decoded, October 5, 2026* ## Sources and Context - **Interview and timestamped transcript:** [Politico Decoded, October 5, 2026](https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/2985049/#t-25) — The transcript attributes the complete continuous passage to Altman at 00:25. - **Reconciled source dossier:** [[research/Super Intelligence Week Index of Statements from the White House Luncheon|Super Intelligence Week Index of Statements from the White House Luncheon]] — preserves the full event chronology, source classification and surrounding context. The Reminder uses one complete continuous passage without brackets or ellipses. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Simple Reminders|Simple Reminders]] - **Article:** [[articles/Safety Discourse Is Transition Discourse|Safety Discourse Is Transition Discourse]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Immediate AI Risk Is the Public|The Immediate AI Risk Is the Public]] - **Research index:** [[research/Super Intelligence Week Index of Statements from the White House Luncheon|Super Intelligence Week Index of Statements from the White House Luncheon]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Sam Altman|Sam Altman]] - [[wiki/OpenAI|OpenAI]] - [[wiki/AI Safety|AI Safety]] - [[wiki/White House Accord on Super Intelligence|White House Accord on Super Intelligence]] ## Share on Social Media ``` "We care like super deeply about safety and would have done and will do the best thing we can for safety, security, and just sort of like trust and robustness in this technology whether or not any voluntary agreement is signed. I think it's great to have the industry do this and I think clearly we're at a time where people are looking for reassurance from the industry and the developers of this technology. But we were founded on a belief that this technology was going to become as powerful as it has now and more powerful in the future and that we wanted to make sure that people get the tremendous benefits of it and we will do that, you know, with or without such an agreement, but I'm happy to have it." — Sam Altman, Politico Decoded, October 5, 2026 https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-sam-altman-safety-beyond-voluntary-agreements ```