Anthropic Policy Chief Ties U.S. AI Leadership to Safety Goals

Anthropic's head of public policy has staked out a position that links American competitiveness in artificial intelligence directly to the ability to manage the technology's most serious risks.

Speaking at POLITICO's Decoded summit in Washington, Sarah Heck argued that the United States must maintain its lead over China in AI development as a prerequisite for effective safety measures. "The United States needs to stay in the lead on AI, and you can't do safety from second place," Heck said, aligning with arguments frequently made by the Trump administration.

Why it matters

The framing represents a strategic pivot for AI safety advocates, who have historically focused on slowing development rather than accelerating it. By tying safety to geopolitical competition, Anthropic is positioning regulatory oversight as compatible with—rather than opposed to—maintaining American technological dominance.

Export controls and external oversight

Heck used the national security argument to defend export controls restricting AI chip sales to China. She emphasized that Anthropic has consistently prioritized safety concerns and is actively working with lawmakers on new regulatory frameworks.

"We do think it's existential to do this. We do think we have to balance the risk now," Heck said, noting that AI capabilities are accelerating. She rejected the notion that industry self-regulation is sufficient: "I don't think that there's a world where you do safety and people are accepting of AI companies just doing it on honor code. We can't be checking our own homework."

Despite this stance, Heck stopped short of endorsing a bipartisan House proposal that would mandate outside evaluators be embedded at leading AI companies. The FRONTIER Act, introduced by Reps. Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.) and Lori Trahan (D-Mass.), has already received support from OpenAI's chief lobbyist Chris Lehane. Heck said Anthropic is "working with Congressman Obernolte and the many others on figuring out what makes the most sense," while noting the company has "always been for third-party evaluators."

Internal tensions and political pushback

Heck's appearance came days after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called for slowing frontier AI model development—a proposal that drew endorsements from OpenAI's Sam Altman and SpaceX AI's Elon Musk but prompted a sharp rebuke from President Trump, who accused Amodei of posturing as a "perfect little angel" and rejected additional AI guardrails.

The call for a slowdown followed the resignation of Anthropic AI researcher Jacob Coxon, who warned that AI companies are "gambling with our lives." Progressive Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) said he met with Heck to urge a pause on the most advanced AI model development, clarifying that "this isn't a pause on all AI, it's a pause on the most dangerous kind of R&D."

The details were first reported by POLITICO.