OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on the uncertain future of powerful AI technology

Tabitha Peters
  |   January 19, 2024   |   Be the first to comment

This year at the World Economic Forum, the panel on Technology in a Turbulent World heavily focused on artificial intelligence (AI), including direct questions posed to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

Other panelists involved were Marc Benioff, Chair and CEO of Salesforce, Julie Sweet, Chair and CEO of Accenture, Jeremy Hunt, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer and Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer, to discuss these issues.

When questioned about the current state, capabilities, and limitations of artificial intelligence, Altman highlighted that despite its flaws and limitations, people are discovering valuable uses for this new tool, resulting in increased productivity and other benefits.

"I think our AI systems will also be able to do the same thing. They'll be able to explain to us in natural language the steps from A to B, and we can decide whether we think those are good steps, even if we're not looking into it to see each connection," he added.

Altman also talked about concerns regarding AI in the wrong hands, highlighting worries from figures like Bill Gates and Elon Musk. He added, "This is a technology that is clearly very powerful and we cannot say with certainty exactly what's going to happen."

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla shared his insights on the subject, describing his experience integrating AI technology with biology. He emphasized that AI played a crucial role in developing the COVID-19 pill 'Paxlovid,' significantly reducing the creation time from four years to four months.

He added, "Now we are moving to drug design instead of drug discovery."

AI is expected to create and eliminate jobs, but according to Altman, it will also alter certain roles by giving people the freedom to generate ideas and make decisions.

"When I think about my job, I'm certainly not a great AI researcher," said Altman. "My role is to figure out what we're going to do, think about that and then work with other people to coordinate and make it happen. I think everyone's job will look a little bit more like that. We will all operate at a little bit higher of a level of abstraction. We will all have access to a lot more capability. We'll still make decisions. They may trend more towards curation over time, but we'll make decisions about what should happen in the world."

He emphasized that it is the tech industry's responsibility to seek input from society in making decisions about values and safety thresholds. This approach ensures that the benefits outweigh the risks.

"I have a lot of empathy for the general nervousness and discomfort of the world towards companies like us. We have our own nervousness, but we believe that we can manage through it and the only way to do that is to put the technology in the hands of people," he added.

"Let society and the technology co-evolve and sort of step by step with a very tight feedback loop and course correction, build these systems that deliver tremendous value while meeting safety requirements."

Tabitha Peters

Journalist

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