OpenAI’s ‘Insane’ Plan: How Leadership Tried to Pit Governments Against Each Other for AI Dominance

OpenAI’s ‘Countries Plan’: A Scheme to Exploit Geopolitical Rivalries

OpenAI’s senior leadership, including CEO Sam Altman and COO Greg Brockman, allegedly proposed a controversial strategy to enrich the company by pitting world governments against each other in a high-stakes competition for artificial intelligence technology. The plan, internally dubbed the ‘countries plan,’ emerged in 2017 and was met with horror by staffers, who described it as ‘completely f*cking insane.’

Brockman’s Geopolitical Gambit

According to a New Yorker investigation, Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s then-second-in-command, openly mused about manipulating global powers like China and Russia to fuel a bidding war for AI technology. His approach drew inspiration from nuclear weapons strategy, with Brockman reportedly questioning why the same tactics couldn’t be applied to AI: “It worked for nuclear weapons, why not AI?”

The plan was dismissed by an ethics adviser, Page Hedley, who recalled Brockman’s logic as alarmingly detached from ethical considerations. Hedley recounted the exchange to The New Yorker:

“The premise, which they didn’t dispute, was ‘We’re talking about potentially the most destructive technology ever invented — what if we sold it to Putin?’”

OpenAI’s then-policy director, Jack Clark, compared the strategy to a prisoner’s dilemma, where nations would feel compelled to fund OpenAI to avoid falling behind in the AI race. Clark warned that refusing to fund the company could be perceived as a dangerous move: “implicitly makes not giving us funding kind of dangerous.”

The plan was ultimately abandoned months later after employees threatened to resign in protest. Hedley noted that employee dissent carried significant weight in Altman’s decision-making, but ethical concerns took a backseat to strategic calculations: “It was always something that had more weight in Sam’s calculations than ‘This is not a good plan because it might cause a war between great powers.’”

Altman’s Manipulation of US Officials

In addition to the ‘countries plan,’ Sam Altman allegedly attempted to manipulate US intelligence officials by fabricating claims about China’s AI ambitions. Beginning in 2017, Altman repeatedly told officials that China had launched an ‘AGI Manhattan Project’, referring to artificial general intelligence (AGI). He argued that OpenAI—and by extension, the US—needed billions in government funding to keep pace with China.

When pressed for evidence, Altman provided vague responses, stating only that “I’ve heard things.” One official who investigated the claims concluded that Altman had fabricated the entire narrative:

“It was just being used as a sales pitch.”

Altman’s approach mirrored the tactics of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist behind the atomic bomb, who used moral appeals to rally support. However, Altman’s strategy relied on fear of geopolitical consequences rather than saving lives, according to the investigation.

Employee Backlash and Ethical Concerns

A junior researcher who attended the meeting where the ‘countries plan’ was discussed described the strategy as “completely f*cking insane.” The plan was abandoned after months of internal opposition, with employees threatening to quit over ethical and strategic concerns.

The revelations come amid growing scrutiny of OpenAI’s leadership and its approach to AI development. Critics have questioned Altman’s understanding of the technology, with former colleagues alleging that he barely codes and misunderstands basic machine learning concepts.

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