OpenAI CEO Advocates for Less AI Regulation to Unblock Progress
On Monday, Sam Altman, the head of OpenAI, expressed his opposition to immediate and strict regulations that could impede the swift advancement of artificial intelligence technology. However, he emphasized the importance of long-term institutional supervision.
Altman, whose company created the ChatGPT bot, told US lawmakers last month that government regulatory action is needed to combat AI risks.
In a statement at Israel’s Tel Aviv University on Monday, Altman stressed that his call for censorship is not aimed at “today’s systems.”
“I think it would be a mistake to go hard on the ground now or try to slow down this amazing innovation,” he said.
Altman recognized the danger of “really poorly targeted superintelligence”, saying it was “something we may have to wrestle with over the next decade, and it’s not a long time for the world’s institutions to adjust to something”.
He reiterated OpenAI’s proposal to form a “global organization” at “the frontiers of computing power and technology” that “could have a framework for licensing models, checking their integrity, and proposing which tests to pass.”
“That would be one way to treat this as a very serious risk. This would be a very serious risk,” Altman said, referring to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN’s international atomic energy agency.
The American businessman’s visit to Israel was part of his world tour to woo national leaders and influencers, meet local talent and learn about the applications of artificial intelligence.
ChatGPT came into the limelight late last year, demonstrating the ability to generate articles, poems, and conversations from the briefest of prompts.
The software’s massive success sparked a gold rush with billions of dollars in investment in the industry, but critics have raised alarms about the possibility that chatbots could flood the web with disinformation or that AI-powered automation could destroy entire industries.
In a meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog earlier Monday, Altman noted the “urgency” to “figure out how to mitigate these very enormous risks.”
“Everybody wants to know,” Altman said.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Altman told him in a phone call that Israel “could become a major global player in the field of artificial intelligence.”
Netanyahu said in a statement that his country, which already has a thriving high-tech industry, should “formulate a national policy” for artificial intelligence.
