Sam Altman warns of AI disruption to jobs, says humans must remain in control
At ADIPEC, OpenAI CEO says increasingly capable AI systems will reshape work and raise new safety challenges, but human judgment and accountability must remain central
OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman emphasized on Monday that human control of artificial intelligence (AI) must remain paramount, with no room for debate. Addressing The National's Editor-in-Chief Mina Al-Oraibi during the opening ceremony of Adipec in Abu Dhabi, Altman stated that AI should serve people, not the other way around. This stance differentiates OpenAI from other AI companies, he noted, and is a value they intend to champion actively.
The remarks came after OpenAI signed agreements with Abu Dhabi covering energy, education, investment, and government sectors. These include partnerships with energy company Adnoc and tech firm G42, aiming to tackle complex energy industry challenges using OpenAI's advanced models. Altman noted that AI has recently outperformed the world's best scientists and is now smarter than them, highlighting that the technology's demand for power is growing concurrently.
He believes society will handle the changes well but stresses the need to demonstrate safety and alignment of AI systems to gain public trust.
When asked about his current biggest challenge, Altman answered succinctly with "Energy." He explained that while the energy needed per AI query has decreased significantly, the overall demand is soaring. Six years ago, OpenAI's heaviest internal user consumed about 100,000 tokens a month; today, that number equates to roughly the global per-capita average, with the top user demanding about 500 billion tokens.
Despite potential cost reductions in AI usage, power remains the dominant factor limiting widespread AI adoption. Altman hoped that AI would ultimately contribute to an increase in energy availability worldwide. Additionally, he revealed that OpenAI has solved one of the Millennium Prize problems using a network of 10,000 agents collaborating with an upcoming GPT model over four days, a claim that requires independent verification.
Altman praised the UAE for its forward-looking approach to AI adoption, reporting that around 80% of young people in the country utilize ChatGPT.
Written by urgent.news from The National Business's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
This story
This is one outlet's version. Read the fullest account.
- ‘No room for debate’ over human control of AI, says Sam Altman thenationalnews.com
- Sam Altman warns of AI disruption to jobs, says humans must remain in control arabianbusiness.com
