OpenAI boss says world ‘right to be afraid’ but ‘should trust’ AI firms

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has expressed that the global community should trust AI companies to act responsibly in their development, despite the heightened public fears surrounding the potential risks. During a recent conference in San Francisco, Altman acknowledged the growing concerns, stating, "The world should trust that we are going to do the right thing because it’s the right thing and we feel the magnitude of this."

However, he also recognized the validity of the fears, as AI capabilities have progressed rapidly, making the worst-case scenarios increasingly plausible. "It doesn’t take as much imagination as it used to for [us] to imagine how this could go wrong," Altman stated. His remarks came following the viral post by a former Anthropic researcher, who warned of potential human extinction if AI is not regulated.

Other AI executives and experts concurred with the assessment, urging for a slower pace of development and stronger government regulation. In response, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called for a temporary halt in AI progress, while Google DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis and Elon Musk advocated for self-regulation. Altman remains confident in the industry's ability to regulate itself, asserting, "We will get it right, I’m very confident in our company’s and industry’s ability to do this safely."

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang also endorsed the idea of self-regulation, emphasizing that AI companies have a strong incentive to ensure safety due to potential liability. Despite the support for self-regulation, some industry figures argue that leaving AI entirely to the companies could be risky, as trust in tech companies is already low.

Anthropic CEO Amodei and OpenAI Executive Chris Lehane stated that the industry is working on an industry-wide agreement on safety standards, aiming to strike a balance between innovation and responsible deployment.