Sam Altman reveals the 2 AI threats that scare him most

Herb Scribner

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaks at the G20 Innovation Ministerial in Chapel Hill, N.C., on Sept. 2. Photo: Sean Rayford/Getty Images

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman laid out two major ways he thinks AI's progress could pose an immense threat to humanity.

The big picture: Altman and the other most powerful AI CEOs, including Anthropic's Dario Amodei and Elon Musk, are calling for a slowdown in the technology's acceleration over fears of what it could mean for humanity.

What he's saying: "There are two ways AI progress could go very badly and that we must avoid," Altman said in an X post.

The first: Humans lose control of AI.

"This is unacceptable; we are unapologetically on Team Humanity, and AI must always serve people."
He said safety and alignment techniques need to "stay ahead of progress in model capabilities."

The second: AI could concentrate enormous power in the hands of one person, company or country.

"If an extraordinarily powerful AI is used by one person or company to impress their worldview onto everyone else, the results could be extremely dystopian."

Zoom in: He warned that avoiding both threats means navigating a "narrow middle path" where neither AI itself nor a small group of humans gains too much control.

Go deeper: 3 ways leaders could avert an AI doomsday scenario

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Sam Altman reveals the 2 AI threats that scare him most

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