Sam Altman warns of 2 ways AI progress could go badly
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman warns that rapid AI progress could go "very badly" if humanity loses control to AI systems or if AI power becomes concentrated in too few hands. He advocates for robust safety measures, industry standards, and a federal framework for frontier AI, emphasizing that AI must always serve humanity.
Why it matters
Altman's warnings from a leading AI developer highlight critical ethical and societal challenges associated with advanced AI, underscoring the urgent need for responsible development, governance, and international cooperation to prevent dystopian outcomes.
OpenAi founder Sam Altman listens to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick during the G20 Innovation Ministerial on Sept. 2, 2026, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is warning that the rapid advance of artificial intelligence could go “very badly” if humans lose control of increasingly powerful systems or if that power becomes concentrated in too few hands.
“There are two ways AI progress could go very badly and that we must avoid,” Altman wrote in a post on X.
The first, he said, is that humanity could “lose control of the future to AI.”
“This is unacceptable; we are unapologetically on Team Humanity, and AI must always serve people,” Altman wrote, arguing that alignment and safety techniques need to remain ahead of advances in AI capabilities.
The second danger, according to Altman, is an excessive concentration of power.
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4 other newsrooms covered this event. We read each version separately.
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