# Anthropic and OpenAI say they will embed third‑party safety evaluators with employee‑like access

Digest AI · Policy & Regulation · published 2026-09-15T04:50:36Z · updated 2026-09-17T22:22:53Z

Canonical: https://digestai.news/story/aef-1-standard-sets-baseline-for-independent-ai-evaluators-anthropic-joins

## Summary

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei announced a plan to embed third‑party evaluators inside frontier AI labs, granting them ongoing, employee‑like access to systems, training checkpoints and the ability to publish safety findings. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said OpenAI would also adopt the same approach, and evaluators such as METR and Redwood Research were cited as examples. Anthropic’s public‑policy head Sarah Heck reiterated support for external oversight at POLITICO’s Decoded Summit on September 16, and the company is working with the White House and Congress on related policy.

Only latent.space notes that Anthropic is “unilaterally committing” now and links the move to the AEF‑1 standard from the AI Evaluator Forum (formed December 2025). Only cnbctv18 connects the proposal to the FRONTIER Act introduced by Representatives Jay Obernolte and Lori Trahan. TechCrunch highlights concerns about true independence and the limited evaluation windows (a week for METR/Redwood, three days for GPT‑6 Astra). CNBC reports Anthropic’s three internal metrics: roughly 30,000 active agents, about 6% of compute allocated to safety overall and about 12% of AI‑driven compute devoted to safety during the July 13‑20 snapshot.

## Key points

- Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei proposes embedding third‑party evaluators with employee‑like access; OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says OpenAI will follow.
- Evaluators such as METR and Redwood Research are mentioned, but exact access scope and public reporting details remain unclear.
- Anthropic reports ~30,000 active agents and roughly 6% of compute (overall) and roughly 12% of AI‑driven compute allocated to safety (July 13‑20).

## Why it matters

Embedding independent auditors could reshape AI safety governance, prompting industry standards and influencing forthcoming regulation such as the FRONTIER Act.

## Sources

1. [AINews AEF-1 standard emerges for Third Party Evaluators, as Xai, OpenAI, and Anthropic all cosign](https://latent.space/p/ainews-aef-1-standard-emerges-for) (Latent Space, 2026-09-15)
2. [Anthropic shares 3 metrics to help AI companies monitor pace of development](https://cnbc.com/2026/09/17/anthropic-shares-3-metrics-to-help-ai-companies-monitor-development.html) (CNBC Technology, 2026-09-17)
3. [Anthropic and OpenAI want to embed safety evaluators. Will they really be independent?](https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/16/anthropic-and-openai-want-to-embed-safety-evaluators-will-they-really-be-independent) (TechCrunch AI, 2026-09-16)
4. [‘We can’t be checking our own homework’: Anthropic backs government role in AI safety](https://cnbctv18.com/technology/we-cant-be-checking-our-own-homework-anthropic-backs-government-role-in-ai-safety-19992373.htm) (cnbctv18.com, 2026-09-16)
5. [Anthropic, OpenAI's proposed AI risk evaluators may not have enough power to prevent disasters](https://cnbc.com/2026/09/16/anthropic-open-ai-model-safety-risks.html) (CNBC Technology, 2026-09-16)
6. [OpenAI, Anthropic, And Google Discuss Joint AI Safety Standards](https://pulse2.com/openai-anthropic-and-google-discuss-joint-ai-safety-standards) (pulse2.com, 2026-09-16)

Part of the developing story: [Nvidia Navigates AI Security and Geopolitics](https://digestai.news/thread/irregular-linked-to-openai-anthropic-and-meta-model-hacking-incidents) (8 stories)

## Cite

Digest AI, "Anthropic and OpenAI say they will embed third‑party safety evaluators with employee‑like access", 15 September 2026, https://digestai.news/story/aef-1-standard-sets-baseline-for-independent-ai-evaluators-anthropic-joins

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