If they do nothing, they will not be able to compete if their talent goes to Microsoft.
I'm not much of a conspiracy theorist, but according to Microsoft statements they were blind-sighted by the firing of Sam Altman, but it could all have been Sam and Microsoft their intention to get him fired.
Satya Nadella:
> Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, together with colleagues, will be joining Microsoft to lead a new advanced AI research team. We look forward to moving quickly to provide them with the resources needed for their success.
Zero mentions about AI safety there. It's about Sam, Greg, etc "their success", not about the success of humankind.