OpenAI’s Sam Altman Compares AI To The Printing Press

OpenAI CEO Sat With Senate Panel To Discuss AI and Its Regulation

On Tuesday 16th May, the CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman sat with a bipartisan congress panel. He testified in front of the panel on matters of AI in the 3-hour hearing. 

Altman discussed the limitless potential that AI technology possesses as well as the liabilities that it brings with it. He emphasized the need for lawmakers to regulate the technology.

Comparing the impact of AI technology to that of the printing press, he was quick to explain the need for regulation. “We think that regulatory intervention by governments will be critical to mitigating the risks of increasingly powerful models,” Altman said.

On the matter, Christina Montgomery, IBM’s vice president and chief privacy and trust officer who was in attendance, said, “[The government should] adopt a precision regulation approach to AI. This means establishing the rules to govern the deployment of AI in specific use cases, not regulating the technology itself.”

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Gary Marcus, a former New York University professor, who was also in attendance, supported Altman’s idea for an independent panel to survey AI. “If you are going to introduce something to 100 million people, somebody has to have their eyeballs on it, Marcus said.

Mr. Altman has become more of a spokesperson in the AI industry as his ChatGPT model is regarded as the spearhead in the AI movement. In the meeting, he suggested the creation of a new agency dedicated to licensing AI companies.

Sam Altman did not shy away from addressing the glaring ethical and functional issues with AI technology. He said, “My worst fears are that we cause, we the field, the technology, the industry, cause significant harm to the world. I think if this technology goes wrong, it can go quite wrong.”

These are words that have been echoed by many in the industry. Including British professor Stuart Russell and formed Google Brain employee Geoffrey Hinton.

A common concern as far as AI development is concerned, has been the issue of AI taking over human jobs. Sam Altman took the opportunity before the panel to address this issue.

“There will be an impact on jobs. We try to be very clear about that, and I think it’ll require partnership between industry and government, but mostly action by government, to figure out how we want to mitigate that. But I’m very optimistic about how great the jobs of the future will be,” he said.

Gary Marcus, a former New York University professor said, the “most important thing we need to do is prepare the workforce for AI-related skills” that is through training and education.”