OpenAI CEO Warns That 'Societal Misalignments' Could Make AI Dangerous

Speaking at the World Governments Summit in Dubai on Tuesday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman warned that "very subtle societal misalignments" could make artificial intelligence systems wreak havoc. The Associated Press reports: "There's some things in there that are easy to imagine where things really go wrong. And I'm not that interested in the killer robots walking on the street direction of things going wrong," Altman said. "I'm much more interested in the very subtle societal misalignments where we just have these systems out in society and through no particular ill intention, things just go horribly wrong." However, Altman stressed that the AI industry, like OpenAI, shouldn't be in the driver's seat when it comes to making regulations governing the industry. "We're still in the stage of a lot of discussion. So there's you know, everybody in the world is having a conference. Everyone's got an idea, a policy paper, and that's OK," Altman said. "I think we're still at a time where debate is needed and healthy, but at some point in the next few years, I think we have to move towards an action plan with real buy-in around the world." [...] For his part, Altman said he was heartened to see that schools, where teachers feared students would use AI to write papers, now embrace the technology as crucial for the future. But he added that AI remains in its infancy. "I think the reason is the current technology that we have is like ... that very first cellphone with a black-and-white screen," Altman said. "So give us some time. But I will say I think in a few more years it'll be much better than it is now. And in a decade it should be pretty remarkable."

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