Sriram Krishnan in talks to lead Google-OpenAI-Anthropic AI safety body

Sriram Krishnan, a Chennai-born former White House AI adviser, has been approached to lead SAFA, a new AI safety body backed by Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic, potentially becoming its first CEO. The Standards Authority for Frontier AI is planned as an independent, industry-led organization rather than a government regulator, with a target launch of late 2026 or early 2027. Its core role would be converting safety pledges into testable benchmarks and supporting developers in evaluating powerful models before release. Krishnan, who served as Senior White House AI Policy Advisor from January to June 2026, previously argued against centralized AI licensing, saying "there will not be an FDA for AI." The proposal traces to a July idea from Google DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis.