Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, on artificial intelligence: “The world should accept that some bad things happen for the benefits of this technology”

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in an interview with POLITICO that society should accept some negative effects resulting from the development of artificial intelligence if the technology’s benefits prove considerably greater. He made the remarks amid debates over the regulation of advanced AI models and differences between OpenAI and Anthropic.

Altman rejected the idea of an approach that would drastically restrict the development of artificial intelligence in order to completely eliminate risks such as cyberattacks, fraud, or misuse. He argued that people will use the technology primarily for beneficial purposes and that society must retain the freedom to decide how it uses it.

However, the head of OpenAI clarified that his position does not entail accepting catastrophic risks. Among these, he mentioned the possibility of a serious loss of control over artificial intelligence systems.

The dispute reflects the differing visions of the two companies. Anthropic supports strict rules for frontier models that would slow the development of the most advanced systems and give smaller competitors an advantage. OpenAI has recently supported stricter rules and independent safety assessments, but Altman opposes allowing a single company to control access to the most advanced technologies.

The dispute reflects the differing visions of the two companies. Anthropic supports strict rules for frontier models that would slow the development of the most advanced systems and give smaller competitors an advantage. OpenAI has recently supported stricter rules and independent safety assessments, but Altman opposes allowing a single company to control access to the most advanced technologies.