OpenAI's Sam Altman: World 'Right to Be Afraid' But 'Should Trust' AI Firms
BBC News reports on a statement made by OpenAI boss Sam Altman regarding public perceptions of artificial intelligence (AI).
"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," Altman said during a conference in San Francisco. Despite acknowledging the justification behind people's fears, he emphasized that "it doesn't take as much imagination... to imagine how this could go wrong" due to AI's rapid development.
This statement came in response to recent concerns sparked by an AI researcher's viral post suggesting AI could pose an existential threat to humanity by 2036 if left unchecked.
Altman, along with other industry figures like Dario Amodei (Anthropic CEO) and Elon Musk, have acknowledged these fears while some argue they are overblown.
During the conference, Altman encouraged responsible AI usage for business protection against cyber threats but expressed confidence in self-regulation within the industry, stating: "We will get it right... I'm very confident in our company's... ability to do this safely."
Jensen Huang, head of Nvidia (the world's largest chipmaker by valuation), also advocated for AI firms to make their own decisions regarding product release, saying, "Safety is paramount. However, safety is an engineering problem... Run as fast as you can, but if at any time [a leader] lacks confidence, don't release it."