Sam Altman Downplays AGI Risks; Now Warns About Superintelligence
Dec. 5, 2024Last year in May, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman testified before the US Senate and urged lawmakers to regulate AI to avoid “significant harm to the world”. Altman said, “I think if this technology goes wrong, it can go quite wrong.”
And now speaking atThe New York Times’DealBook Summit, Altman seems to have downplayed the risks ofAGI (Artificial General Intelligence)— an advanced AI system that can match or exceed human capabilities.
Altman said, “But my guess is we will hit AGI sooner than most people in the world think and it will matter much less. And a lot of the safety concerns that we and others expressed actually don’t come at the AGI moment. It’s like AGI can get built, the world goes on mostly the same way. The economy moves faster, things grow faster.“
He further said, “But then there is a long continuation from what we call AGI to what we call Superintelligence.“
Many analysts say that OpenAI is lowering expectations and shifting focus from AGI to Superintelligence to end the exclusive technology-sharing partnership with Microsoft. OpenAI has an AGI clause with Microsoft that says when the AI startup achieves AGI internally (which will be decided by the OpenAI board), Microsoft will lose access to OpenAI’s technologies.
As reported byThe Wall Street Journal, OpenAI executives view this AGI clause as leverage to end the deal with Microsoft or negotiate a favorable contract. At the DealBook Summit, Altman agreed that there is some sort oftension between OpenAI and Microsoft. Altman said, “Again, there is not no tension, but on whole, like, I think our incentives are pretty aligned.“
Apart from that, the reason Altman is downplaying AGI may have to do withElon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAIover AGI fears and the transition from a non-profit to a for-profit corporation. The lawsuit claims that OpenAI’s control over AGI without adequate safeguards could lead to catastrophic outcomes.
At the DealBook conference, referring to Elon Musk’s close ties with President-Elect Donald Trump, Altman said, “I believe pretty strongly that Elon will do the right thing and that it would be profoundly un-American to use political power to the degree that Elon would hurt competitors and advantage his own businesses.“
Passionate about Windows, ChromeOS, Android, security and privacy issues. Have a penchant to solve everyday computing problems.
