# AI Safety Index Summer 2026: No A or B Grades Awarded

> The Future of Life Institute's Summer 2026 AI Safety Index graded 16 leading AI labs on how seriously they take safety, and the class did not do well. No company earned an A or a B. The top of the curve was Anthropic at a C+, scoring 2.66, with the rest trailing behind and three labs, xAI, DeepSeek and Mistral, landing outright F grades. The most sobering finding is where everyone is weakest. On existential safety, the work of ensuring advanced systems stay controllable as they grow more capable, no company scored above a C-. In other words, the labs racing hardest to build powerful AI are, by this scorecard, least prepared for the scenario they themselves warn about. Indices like this are judgment calls, and the companies being graded will quibble with the methodology. But the pattern is consistent with other assessments this year, capability is sprinting while safety practice walks. The value here is comparative, it lets outsiders see which labs are at least trying and which are coasting, and right now even the leader gets a grade you would not want to bring home.

_Section: [Interesting AI Articles](https://www.wortins.com/articles) · Source: Future of Life Institute · Published Friday, August 21, 2026_

## Wortins' read

The Future of Life Institute's Summer 2026 AI Safety Index graded 16 leading AI labs on how seriously they take safety, and the class did not do well. No company earned an A or a B. The top of the curve was Anthropic at a C+, scoring 2.66, with the rest trailing behind and three labs, xAI, DeepSeek and Mistral, landing outright F grades. The most sobering finding is where everyone is weakest. On existential safety, the work of ensuring advanced systems stay controllable as they grow more capable, no company scored above a C-. In other words, the labs racing hardest to build powerful AI are, by this scorecard, least prepared for the scenario they themselves warn about. Indices like this are judgment calls, and the companies being graded will quibble with the methodology. But the pattern is consistent with other assessments this year, capability is sprinting while safety practice walks. The value here is comparative, it lets outsiders see which labs are at least trying and which are coasting, and right now even the leader gets a grade you would not want to bring home.

## Source

[Read the full story at Future of Life Institute](https://futureoflife.org/ai-safety-index-summer-2026/)

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