Responsible Scaling: Comparing Government Guidance and Company Policy

Summary

This report from IAPS analyzes Responsible Scaling Policies (RSPs) adopted by AI companies, comparing them against government guidance frameworks. It critiques existing RSP implementations—particularly Anthropic's—for vague risk threshold definitions and insufficient external oversight, and recommends more rigorous, verifiable safety level criteria with independent accountability mechanisms.

Key Points

• •Compares voluntary company Responsible Scaling Policies with emerging government AI safety guidance across multiple jurisdictions
• •Critiques RSPs for lacking precise, measurable risk thresholds that would trigger mandatory safety interventions or capability pauses
• •Argues external oversight mechanisms are largely absent, leaving companies to self-certify compliance with their own safety commitments
• •Recommends stronger definitions of AI Safety Levels (ASLs) and third-party evaluation requirements to make RSPs more credible
• •Highlights the gap between the ambition of responsible scaling frameworks and their current enforceability