Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, believes companies working in the field of artificial intelligence can continue to develop the technology without that process causing significant harm to the general public.
Altman said on Wednesday during a conversation with Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, at the Dreamforce conference in San Francisco, addressing the pace of AI advancement and concerns raised about the safety of the technology.
The CEO of OpenAI emphasized in the session that he is confident in his company's ability and the entire AI industry's ability to develop the technology safely. He said: “I am very confident in my company’s ability - and our industry’s ability - to do this safely.”
Debate over the pace of AI development
Altman’s remarks come as debate intensifies over the speed of development of AI models and the degree of need for government oversight and regulation. Policymakers and tech industry activists disagree on whether governments should impose more restrictions to prevent AI development from getting out of human control.
One of the main focuses of this debate is the rapid progress of AI models. As these models’ capabilities increase, concerns about their potential consequences grow, and some experts and industry executives have called for mechanisms to control the speed of development of the technology.
In contrast, Altman believes AI companies should be able to upgrade their models in a safe and controlled manner. From his perspective, safety concerns should not mean stopping or broadly slowing the overall progress of the technology.
Disagreement among AI company executives
These remarks follow a discussion that has emerged in recent days among some executives and researchers in the AI industry.
Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, one of OpenAI’s rivals, fueled the debate after publishing an article on Saturday. In that article he warned about potential dangers arising from rapid AI development and suggested that the pace of development should be slowed.
The concerns raised by Amodei relate to the fundamental question of whether AI companies should slow the pace of their model development to examine and manage potential risks, or whether it is possible to strengthen necessary safety measures while continuing development.
This difference of opinion shows that even among leading companies in the industry there is no full consensus on the best way to manage AI risks.
Collaboration to increase safety
Altman said OpenAI collaborates with companies including Anthropic and Alphabet-owned AI lab DeepMind to address AI safety issues.
However, he stressed that conducting research and collaborating on safety should not prevent companies from improving their models safely.
The CEO of OpenAI also expressed frustration with how the discussion has been framed, saying: “I have been frustrated by the way this has been framed.”
Altman’s comments can be seen as part of a broader debate about how to balance the speed of innovation with safety requirements. On the one hand, technology companies are trying to increase AI models’ capabilities more quickly, and on the other hand, concerns about the potential consequences of the technology have made oversight and regulation a major topic of conversation between industry and policymakers.
In such circumstances, one of the main questions is whether it is possible, by developing safety technologies, risk assessment, and regulatory mechanisms in parallel, to benefit from the rapid progress of AI while also controlling its potential dangers.
Altman’s stance indicates that OpenAI continues to emphasize the possibility of continuing to develop AI models while observing safety requirements. In contrast, views like the recent position of Anthropic’s CEO hold that the pace of technological progress may need to be reconsidered and reduced.
This debate will likely continue as AI models become more capable and enter broader applications, from business and programming to public services and sensitive decision-making. The main issue for industry and policymakers is to create a framework that preserves the possibility of innovation and technology development while also providing appropriate mechanisms for its potential risks.
According to the BBC, the difference of opinion among leaders of leading AI companies about the pace of development of the technology is part of a broader debate over the level of oversight, regulation, and safety requirements for artificial intelligence.