Anthropic, OpenAI Try to Ease Public Anxiety

Artificial intelligence firms spent years hyping their software as world-changing; now they're scrambling to convince people it won't quietly wreck their lives. OpenAI this week rolled out a policy wish list aimed squarely at public anxiety over jobs and inequality, floating ideas like a four-day workweek and a public wealth fund seeded with AI profits and paid out to citizens. Rival Anthropic, meanwhile, has been signing deals with consulting and software firms whose share prices have been hammered by fears they'll be automated away -- moves that have helped lift some tech stocks and turned threatened workers into AI promoters. Both companies are also courting private-equity firms that own businesses in automation-vulnerable industries, the Wall Street Journal reports, pitching "AI transformation" as a way to survive the shift.