OpenAI CEO Sam Altman fumes at ‘potentially scary’ AI tools and how ‘people of the future will see us’
Few people think more about artificial intelligence and its ultimate impact on humanity than Sam Altman, CEO of ChatGPT maker OpenAI. So if Altman worries about “how the people of the future will view us,” it’s worth paying attention.
In a series of tweets this weekend, Altman shared his thoughts on the dangers posed by current AI technology — and the tools that will follow in the years to come.
ChatGPT has been upsetting some people lately – notably ChatGPT-powered Bing, whose sometimes disturbing suggestions and comments have prompted OpenAI and Microsoft to try to reassure the public and better explain the technology.
Altman doesn’t seem concerned about today’s ChatGPT, but what’s coming next. He tweeted“While current-gen AI tools aren’t very scary, I think we might not be that far from potentially scary ones.”
He appeared to be concerned with the times, predicting that the integration of AI tools into society will be rapid – and the world will need time to adjust.
He wrote, “adapting to a world deeply integrated with AI tools will likely happen fairly quickly; The benefits (and the fun!) have too many benefits. We also need enough time for our institutions to figure out what needs to be done. Regulation will be key and will take time to figure out. Having time to understand what is happening, how people want to use these tools and how society can move forward together is crucial.”
His thoughts also revolved around how future generations will look back at this point in history and the decisions being made now – and he seemed to be hoping for some understanding and forgiveness.
“I wish that all generations would be kind to previous generations,” he says wrote. “Humanity is deeply imperfect. Our grandparents did terrible things; Our grandchildren will understand that we did terrible things that we don’t understand yet.”
“The people who came before us are a complete package of good and evil,” he said continued, “and together they advanced the world; It is important to regard the moral progress of society as an ongoing common project for which we are all responsible. Now it’s our turn. I hope the people of the future will see us the same way.”
This week Tesla CEO Elon Musk distanced himself from OpenAI, which he co-funded and established as a non-profit organization in 2015. Microsoft has invested heavily in OpenAI in recent years and hinted last month that it will pour even more money into the company.
On Friday, Musk tweeted, “OpenAI was created as an open source (which is why I called it ‘Open’ AI), non-profit company to serve as a counterbalance to Google, but now it has become a closed source company with maximum profit, which is effectively controlled by Microsoft. Not at all what I intended.”
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