Sam Altman warns of two major ways AI could go ‘very badly’ for humanity

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has outlined two major dangers he believes humanity must avoid as artificial intelligence becomes increasingly powerful.

Altman said one major risk is humans losing control of advanced AI systems.

He argued that artificial intelligence must remain aligned with human interests and that safety techniques must continue developing alongside improvements in AI capabilities.

The second danger, according to Altman, is the concentration of enormous AI power in the hands of a single person, company or country.

He warned that an extremely powerful AI system controlled by a small number of people could be used to impose their worldview on others, potentially producing dystopian consequences.

Altman’s comments come amid a wider debate within the technology industry over whether development of increasingly capable AI systems should slow down to allow stronger safeguards to be established.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has also called for a more cautious approach to advanced AI development, while warning about potentially catastrophic risks.

The debate has attracted responses from technology executives, researchers and political leaders as the United States, China and other countries compete for leadership in artificial intelligence.

Altman said avoiding both excessive AI autonomy and excessive concentration of human control would require navigating a difficult middle path.