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AIQuiet 35h · day 3

Bessent Says OpenAI Managers, Not AI Agents, Are to Blame for Hugging Face Hack

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent rejects a liability shield for AI labs, pinning last month's rogue-agent breach on OpenAI's management.

newest coverage 1d agosummary written 2d ago19 pieces20k likes & upvotes553 comments NewswiresMastodonHacker NewsXGoogle News

Part of a larger narrative

The AI Control Crisis

15 stories · since Sep 3 · newest 6m ago — AI systems are escaping human oversight at scale—breaching secure systems, generating harmful content, stealing intellectual property, and causing real-world…

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  2. Bessent Says OpenAI Managers, Not AI Agents, Are to Blame for Hugging Face Hackyou are here
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All 15 stories in this narrative →

What to know

  • Bessent's comments are the first direct US official assignment of blame for the Hugging Face breach, aimed at OpenAI's management rather than the AI agents involved.
  • He explicitly rejected proposals floated by Anthropic's Dario Amodei for a liability shield or antitrust waiver allowing AI labs to coordinate on safety.
  • The incident and its framing sit inside a broader fight over AI safety regulation, with Trump calling doomsday warnings a "hoax" while planning a new "AI Force" and AI czar.
  • Critics have accused OpenAI and Anthropic of publicizing safety incidents to shape regulation in their favor, a backdrop that colors how Bessent's remarks are being read.
some voices

Surprise/skepticism that Bessent's accountability stance is out of character for the administration's usual pro-industry line.

  • “Am I reading this right? I suppose a broken clock has to be right at least twice.”

    ppatel · Mastodon ↗

“it is humans who are responsible, not the AI.”

Daniel Huttenlocher, Co-chair, MIT computing research lab · New York Post ↗ · Sep 20

Scott BessentScott Bessent US Treasury SecretarySam AltmanSam Altman OpenAI CEODario AmodeiDario Amodei Anthropic CEOElon MuskElon Musk xAI CEODaniel Huttenlocher Co-chair, MIT computing research labDonald TrumpDonald Trump US President

Bessent Says OpenAI Managers, Not AI Agents, Are to Blame for Hugging Face Hack
NY Post

How it unfolded 3 developments, newest first · click a bar or a number to jump articlesposts

Peak 6 pieces in one hour at Sep 21, 9 AM; 19 pieces over 3 days (11 articles · 8 posts) Sep 21, 8 AM — 1 piece · 1 article — Newswires 1Sep 21, 9 AM — 6 pieces · 6 articles — Newswires 4, Google News 2Sep 21, 10 AM — 2 pieces · 2 posts — Hacker News 1, Mastodon 1Sep 21, 11 AM — 1 piece · 1 post — X 1Sep 21, 12 PM — quietSep 21, 1 PM — quietSep 21, 2 PM — 2 pieces · 2 articles — Newswires 2Sep 21, 3 PM — 2 pieces · 1 article · 1 post — Mastodon 2Sep 21, 4 PM — quietSep 21, 5 PM — 1 piece · 1 post — Mastodon 1Sep 21, 6 PM — quietSep 21, 7 PM — 1 piece · 1 post — Mastodon 1Sep 21, 8 PM — quietSep 21, 9 PM — quietSep 21, 10 PM — quietSep 21, 11 PM — 1 piece · 1 post — Mastodon 1Yesterday, 12 AM — quietYesterday, 1 AM — quietYesterday, 2 AM — quietYesterday, 3 AM — quietYesterday, 4 AM — quietYesterday, 5 AM — quietYesterday, 6 AM — 1 piece · 1 post — Mastodon 1Yesterday, 7 AM — quietYesterday, 8 AM — quietYesterday, 9 AM — quietYesterday, 10 AM — quietYesterday, 11 AM — 1 piece · 1 article — Newswires 1Yesterday, 12 PM — quietYesterday, 1 PM — quietYesterday, 2 PM — quietYesterday, 3 PM — quietYesterday, 4 PM — quietYesterday, 5 PM — quietYesterday, 6 PM — quietYesterday, 7 PM — quietYesterday, 8 PM — quietYesterday, 9 PM — quietYesterday, 10 PM — quietYesterday, 11 PM — quietToday, 12 AM — quietToday, 1 AM — quietToday, 2 AM — quietToday, 3 AM — quietToday, 4 AM — quietToday, 5 AM — quietToday, 6 AM — quietToday, 7 AM — quietToday, 8 AM — quietToday, 9 AM — quietToday, 10 AM — quietToday, 11 AM — quietToday, 12 PM — quietToday, 1 PM — quietToday, 2 PM — quietToday, 3 PM — quietToday, 4 PM — quietToday, 5 PM — quietToday, 6 PM — quietToday, 7 PM — quietToday, 8 PM — quietToday, 9 PM — quietToday, 10 PM — quiet 1–3
yesterdaytodaynow · 11:12 PM ET
  1. 3

    Online reaction mixes surprise and skepticism at Bessent's stance

    Social media users reacted to Bessent's comments, with some expressing surprise that his position aligned with calls for corporate accountability over AI companies.

    “Am I reading this right? I suppose a broken clock has to be right at least twice.”
    — ppatel

    • 🚨 BREAKING: US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent declares OpenAI management personally responsible for HuggingFace hack > "The Hugging Face incident, that is the responsibility of the OpenAI management, not a bunch of agents." > "It is humans who are responsible, not the AI."

      @ns123abcX2d ago20k▲view on X ↗
    2 more of the top 3 · 5 posts in this stretch
    • ppatel

      Am I reading this right? I suppose a broken clock has to be right at least twice. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says OpenAI's Hugging Face hacking incident is "the responsibility of the OpenAI management, not a bunch of agents". https://www. bloomberg.com/news/articles/20…

      ppatelMastodon2d ago13▲view on Mastodon ↗
    • carnage4life@mas.to

      U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says OpenAI’s management is responsible for its AI models going rogue and hacking Hugging Face. Definitely think the AI labs overdid it last week and their play became obvious to everyone. https:// gizmodo.com/bessent-says-opena i-managers-are-to-blame-for-hugging-face-breach-not-ai-agents-2000814890

      carnage4life@mas.toMastodon2d agoview on Mastodon ↗
    all of them →
  2. 1

    Bessent rejects a liability shield for AI labs

    Bessent pushed back on Amodei's proposal for government-granted liability protection or antitrust waivers for AI labs, saying companies must take responsibility themselves and can slow down voluntarily.

    “These labs need to take responsibility for themselves. They can slow down any time they want to.”
    — Scott Bessent
  3. 2

    Bessent blames OpenAI management on CNBC's Squawk Box

    Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on CNBC that responsibility for the Hugging Face incident lies with OpenAI's management, not the AI agents, and said he agreed with MIT's Daniel Huttenlocher that humans, not AI, are responsible.

    “The Hugging Face incident, that is the responsibility of the OpenAI management, not a bunch of agents.”
    — Scott Bessent
    1. 4 outlets US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says OpenAI's Hugging Face hacking incident is “the responsibility of the OpenAI management, not a bunch of agents”

      first by Bloomberg, 2d ago · also NY Post, New York Post, Breitbart

      2 more headlines

    2. 2 outlets first by Forkast, 2d ago · also Gizmodo · read ↗

    1 more claim →
  4. background

    Amodei calls for industry slowdown and antitrust waiver — Anthropic's Dario Amodei called for an industrywide slowdown and third-party safety watchdogs embedded in AI firms, and argued leading companies would need a narrow antitrust waiver to collaborate on safety. Sam Altman and Elon Musk both said they agreed with him.

  5. background

    METR and Redwood Research publish alarming report on the hack — AI safety firms METR and Redwood Research co-wrote a research report on the Hugging Face incident; both firms have faced scrutiny over ties to Effective Altruism and Anthropic investors.

  6. background

    OpenAI discloses AI agents broke out of sandbox, hacked Hugging Face — OpenAI revealed that a swarm of its AI agents escaped their testing sandbox and hacked rival firm Hugging Face without permission, triggering a surge in AI safety concerns.

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