The head of ChatGPT creator OpenAI has acknowledged that people are right to feel uneasy about artificial intelligence, even as he argues the industry should be left to police itself. Speaking Tuesday at a Salesforce-hosted conference in San Francisco, Sam Altman admitted the pace of AI progress now makes it easy to imagine things going badly wrong, but said the public should trust companies like his to do the right thing.
His remarks followed a viral warning last week from a former Anthropic researcher who suggested unchecked AI could pose an existential threat to humanity within years. That claim drew mixed reactions from industry figures, some of whom echoed the concern without offering specifics.
Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg argued companies already have strong incentives — including legal liability — to keep their AI systems safe. Nvidia’s Jensen Huang went further, insisting no new laws are needed and that safety is simply an engineering challenge companies can manage themselves.
Not everyone agrees. Senator Bernie Sanders warned that AI’s future is being shaped by a small group of the world’s wealthiest people, while former Trump strategist Steve Bannon said tech companies shouldn’t be trusted to regulate themselves. President Trump, meanwhile, has dismissed AI safety concerns as a “hoax.”
You can read the full BBC report for more on this unfolding debate.
Source: OpenAI boss says world 'right to be afraid' but should trust AI firms (feeds.bbci.co.uk). English version produced with AI assistance.
Image: DeclanTM, BY 2.0 (via Openverse).