Sam Altman: The AI Savior or Doomsday Prophet?

Sam Altman: The AI Savior or Doomsday Prophet? On July 2, Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, set out to develop the world's first artificial general intelligence (AGI), a powerful machine capable of human-like thinking and reasoning. However, concerns have arisen about whether he might inadvertently create an AI overlord that views humans as inferior beings

Sam Altman: The AI Savior or Doomsday Prophet?

On July 2, Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, set out to develop the world's first artificial general intelligence (AGI), a powerful machine capable of human-like thinking and reasoning. However, concerns have arisen about whether he might inadvertently create an AI overlord that views humans as inferior beings.

During a speech at the Aspen Ideas Festival last weekend, media mogul Ari Emanuel recalled a conversation with Elon Musk (a former board member of his entertainment company Endeavor). Emanuel recounted, Musk said to me in a chilling way Ari, you know the relationship you have with your dog? You can think of it like that, we might become the pet dogs of AI. It scared me, and I dont want to be a dog.

AI experts, including "godfather of AI" Geoffrey Hinton, worry that Silicon Valley executives won't settle for just AGI: humans might ultimately create artificial superintelligence (ASI). This superintelligence would not only mimic human learning processes like those of existing transformer-based neural networks (such as OpenAI's GPT-4), but it might also gain self-awareness in the process, subtly relegating humans to a lower life form.

Given the vital importance of whether Altman can make responsible decisions, Emanuel openly voiced his concerns: past actions suggest people don't trust him to develop groundbreaking technologies correctly, especially amid mounting criticism. Emanuel said, "I think he's a shyster. Musk gave him a lot of money, (OpenAI) was supposed to be a non-profit, now he's making a lot of money. I don't know why I should trust him." Previously released legal documents revealed that Musk invested over $44 million into OpenAI between 2016 and September 2020.

Emanuel also argued that Altman hasn't provided enough proof that his technology won't pose long-term threats to society, especially as he seems more focused on commercialization than on safety. You're telling me you've calculated that the benefits outweigh the negatives? I don't think so. His media company could be affected by OpenAI's development of generative AI such as Sora. Faced with external questioning and requests for comment, OpenAI chose to remain silent.

Altman himself has stated that some of the equity grants are for attracting and retaining talent, but he has also said there is not enough evidence to justify trust, and people shouldn't trust any AI company or CEO blindly. Will the future of AI mean a society devoid of purpose?

Altman currently has a net worth of approximately $2 billion. He survived a boardroom power struggle last year, partly due to the support of Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, which solidified his position. As three former board members who opposed him have left, Altman's power appears to have reached unprecedented heights.

One of the former board members, Helen Toner, accused Altman of dishonesty in May, claiming he would withhold key information, distort facts, and sometimes even lie to the board. Meanwhile, several OpenAI scientists, such as Jan Leike, left the company after accusing Altman of breaking key research funding promises. Leike and Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever were responsible for designing robust safety protocols to ensure AI never surpassed humans. Now, Altman oversees both the CEO role and AI safety, raising governance concerns.