Sam Altman Calls for Trust in AI Companies: “We Will Do the Right Thing”

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has called on people to have more trust in artificial intelligence companies, arguing that the industry is capable of developing the technology safely. His statement comes at a time when fears about AI risks and calls for greater regulation are growing.

Speaking Tuesday at a conference organized by Salesforce in San Francisco, Altman said the public should trust that AI companies will make the right decisions, precisely because they understand the weight of the responsibility they carry.

“The world needs to believe that we will do the right thing, because it is the right thing and we feel the magnitude of this responsibility,” Altman said.

However, the OpenAI chief acknowledged that the public’s concerns are justified, as the capabilities of artificial intelligence systems have developed at very fast rates, Telegrafi reports.

“It doesn’t take as much imagination as it used to to think about how this could go wrong. I think the world is right to be afraid of this,” he declared.

The AI risks debate

Altman’s comments come after a new wave of concerns about the risks of artificial intelligence. A researcher who left Anthropic published a viral post last week, claiming that AI could cause the extinction of humanity by the end of this decade if its development is not controlled.

Several other industry leaders and experts expressed agreement with the assessment, although they did not explain in detail on what basis they supported this scenario or how AI could realize it.

The debate has brought greater attention to how the most advanced AI models are being developed. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has called for the pace of the technology’s development to slow down and for governments to set clearer rules for the industry.

His stance has also been publicly supported by Altman, Google DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis, as well as Elon Musk.

Altman: Companies can self-regulate

Despite growing pressure for government intervention, Altman said he believes AI companies can take on a large share of the responsibility for safety.

“We will do it right. I am very confident in our company’s and the industry’s ability to do this safely,” he said.

Altman added that companies must keep safety and the alignment of systems with human interests ahead of the development of new capabilities. If they are unable to do this, he said, they should slow down development or even stop it.

Sanders and Bannon oppose self-regulation

This approach has been opposed by political figures with very different positions.

U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders said at a conference in Washington that decisions about the future of AI should not remain in the hands of a small group of extraordinarily wealthy people.

He mentioned, among others, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos.

“The people of this country must make the decisions about AI, and not just a handful of oligarchs,” Sanders said.

Steve Bannon, former adviser to Donald Trump during his first term in the White House, also expressed doubts about the technology industry’s ability to regulate itself.

Zuckerberg and Nvidia back the industry

After Altman’s statements, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote on X that AI labs have the opportunity and the interest to take their own steps toward developing safer models.

According to Zuckerberg, companies that don’t prioritize alignment and safety will be left behind, while legal liability for damages caused by models creates a strong incentive for companies to prevent risks.

At the same conference, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said AI companies should have the primary responsibility to decide whether a new version of the technology is ready for release.

“We don’t need new laws or regulations,” Huang said, arguing that no artificial choice should be created between the pace of innovation and safety.

However, he stressed that safety must be the priority and that, if a company executive has no confidence in their product, they should choose not to release it.

Skepticism even within the industry

Not everyone in the AI sector agrees with the idea of self-regulation. Jack Clark, co-founder and chief of Anthropic, said that leaving artificial intelligence as a “fully unregulated” industry would mean taking extraordinarily large risks.

Meanwhile, Patrick Hillman, chief operating officer of Logical Intelligence, argued that the public’s skepticism toward tech companies is understandable.

“If you believe what you’re building is dangerous, tell us what you’re willing to stop doing,” he said.

Companies seek common standards

Despite debates over the role of governments, the leaders of OpenAI and Anthropic have said their companies have begun working toward a form of industry-level agreement on safety standards.

Amodei said Anthropic is already in dialogue with other companies in the sector on creating stronger standards and controls for the development and use of AI.