一小撮精英AI研究人员正在OpenAI及其他领军企业内部施展非凡影响力，向高管发起挑战、塑造政策，并使与华盛顿的谈判变得更加复杂。
A small cadre of elite AI researchers is wielding extraordinary influence inside OpenAI and other leading companies, challenging executives, shaping policy and complicating negotiations with Washington.
为何重要：随着一场安全危机在行业内展开，究竟是顶尖研究人员还是他们汇报的高管在更多地塑造国家AI辩论，这还是个未知数。
Why it matters: a safety crisis has unfolded across the industry, it's an open question who is doing more to shape the national AI debate — top researchers or the executives they report to.
- 这些研究人员中有些是世界上薪酬最高、最抢手的科学家，他们在网上直言不讳，并已多次与公司战略发生冲突。
• The researchers, some of whom are among the most highly paid and sought-after scientists in the world, are outspoken online and have repeatedly clashed with company strategy.
大局观：事态酝酿着一场自下而上的起义，企业可能达成的任何交易——无论是与特朗普政府、彼此之间，甚至是全球范围内——都必须经得起其顶尖科学家的审视。
The big picture: The situation has the makings of a grassroots uprising, where any potential deal the companies may strike — with the Trump administration, one another, or even globally — will also have to pass muster with their top scientists.
幕后情况 OpenAI、Anthropic等处于AI前沿的公司不同于其他企业。
Behind the scenes OpenAI, Anthropic and others at the frontier of AI aren't like other companies.
- 多年前，许多公司最初都是理想主义的研究实验室，拥有推崇开放与协作的科学文化。
• Many began years ago as idealistic research labs with scientific cultures that prized openness and collaboration.
- 为维持运转并持续构建更优模型，这些公司需要高度专业化的机器学习研究人员和科学家，以推动技术可能性的边界。
• To function, and to continue to build better and better models, the companies need highly specialized machine learning researchers and scientists to push the frontiers of what's technologically possible. The trouble is
麻烦在于最优秀的此类研究人员供给极其短缺。
the best of those researchers are in extraordinarily short supply.
- 去年的人才大战将顶尖精英的薪酬包推高至数亿美元，赋予顶级研究人员对雇主的巨大杠杆作用。
• Last year's talent wars drove compensation packages into the hundreds of millions of dollars for the most elite, giving top researchers enormous leverage over their employers.
- 福利包括有利的薪酬归属时间表，以及基本不设限的政策，允许他们频繁在网上分享胜利、抨击对手并发表对AI竞赛的见解。
• Perks include favorable vesting schedules for their compensation and largely freewheeling policies that allow them to share triumphs, trash rivals and offer their perspectives about the AI race frequently on
- 一位OpenAI投资人告诉Axios，AI首席执行官必须将安全放在首位并拥抱监管，以留住顶尖研究人才。
• AI CEOs must prioritize safety and embrace regulation to retain top research talent, an OpenAI investor told Axios.
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关键信息： OpenAI的总裁Greg Brockman取消了向一个支持人工智能（AI）的政治组织捐赠2500万美元的计划；该组织曾遭到一些研究人员的公开批评。
OpenAI President Greg Brockman scrapped plans to donate another $25 million to a pro-AI political group that some researchers had openly criticized.
研究人员与员工的观点：他们表示，自己曾推动OpenAI改变立场——从最初抵制监管政策，转变为与多个州的立法者更加紧密地合作。该公司最近支持了伊利诺伊州的一项透明度法案，并在最后一刻通过了加利福尼亚州的一项独立审计法案。
• Researchers and employees say they helped push OpenAI from resisting regulation — and candidates who supported it — toward working more closely with lawmakers in several states. • The company recently backed a transparency bill in Illinois and, at the 11th hour, an independent auditing bill in California.
一位OpenAI发言人表示：“OpenAI内部存在很多争论，这是好事；但我们的政策立场最终是由我们的技术发展情况以及技术进步的速度所决定的。”
• "We have a lot of debate inside OpenAI, and that's a good thing, but what ultimately drives our policy positions is what we're seeing in our own technology and how quickly its capabilities are advancing," an OpenAI spokesperson said.
OpenAI的立场转变：然而，OpenAI在周四表示其容忍异议的程度是有限的，并解雇了三名涉嫌不当处理敏感信息的员工。该公司称，这些员工破坏了维护系统安全所需的“深厚信任关系”。
Yes, but OpenAI signaled Thursday that there are limits to how much dissent it will tolerate, firing three employees for allegedly mishandling sensitive information. • The employees broke the "deep level of trust" needed to keep systems safe, the company said.
政策制定者的困惑：在华盛顿，这种不稳定的态度令政策制定者感到沮丧；他们认为AI公司在监管问题上态度反复无常——有时反对相关提案，有时又予以支持。
Friction point: In Washington, the unusual dynamic has frustrated policymakers who see AI companies as inconsistent on regulation — opposing proposals at some points and supporting them at others, sources tell Axios.
一位接近政府的消息人士表示：“OpenAI已不再被视为推动政策制定的领导者。”另有人认为，是研究人员削弱了OpenAI的影响力。
• OpenAI is "no longer seen as or acting as a leader in driving policy," one source close to the administration said, arguing researchers have "neutered" the company.
一位白宫官员称OpenAI是一位出色的合作伙伴，并提到了该公司最近与总统签署的协议。
• A White House official said OpenAI has been an incredible partner and pointed to the recent accord the company signed with the president.
其他公司的困境：不只是OpenAI；Anthropic在与五角大楼的谈判中也遇到了困难——该公司今年早些时候与政府高级官员发生了冲突。
It's not just OpenAI. Researchers also complicated Anthropic's efforts to strike a deal with the Pentagon after a clash between the company and senior administration officials earlier this year.
OpenAI、Anthropic和Google的员工曾在关键时刻联合发表公开信，其中超过1000名员工支持了那份广为流传的请愿书，呼吁加快AI技术的发展速度。
• Employees at OpenAI, Anthropic and Google have signed high-profile letters at pivotal moments between companies and the government, including more than 1,000 who backed the viral "pacing the frontier" petition.
- Anthropic 研究员雅各布·科克森以引人注目的内部团结姿态辞职，并公开抨击该公司的安全做法——而 Anthropic 内部仍有几名同事支持他的担忧。现实检验随着针对人工智能的政治反弹加剧，安全事件也受到更多审视，接近这些公司的人士表示，公司高管也作出了调整。
• In a remarkable show of internal solidarity, Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon resigned and publicly blasted the company's safety practices — only to have several colleagues still inside Anthropic endorse his concerns. Reality check Executives have also adapted as political backlash to AI has grown and safety incidents have drawn more scrutiny, sources close to the companies say.
- 由于某种程度的监管被视为不可避免，各家公司没有单纯抵制，而是专注于尽可能制定出对自身有利的规则。底线是：在人工智能安全与监管的讨论中，一些研究人员设定讨论框架的影响力已几乎与 OpenAI 的萨姆·奥尔特曼或 Anthropic 的达里奥·阿莫代伊相当。
• With some level of regulation seen as inevitable, companies have focused on molding the rules as favorably as possible rather than simply resisting them. The bottom line: In the debate over AI safety and regulation, some researchers have become nearly as influential in setting the terms as OpenAI's Sam Altman or Anthropic's Dario Amodei.