OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says world is 'right to be afraid' of AI, but must trust tech firms

Speaking at a high-profile industry event, OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman offered a rare and candid admission regarding the rapid, unpredictable evolution of frontier artificial intelligence models.

Altman acknowledged that public anxiety and fear surrounding the potential societal risks of advanced AI are entirely justified, noting that the existential and operational scenarios are no longer abstract science fiction.

However, he balanced this warning with an appeal for public confidence, asserting that top development labs are deeply committed to managing safety responsibly.

The remarks underscore the ongoing tension between accelerating technological capability and safety alignment.

While critics and regulators push for stringent external legal frameworks, tech leaders continue to debate how corporate accountability, self-regulation, and technological safeguards can best protect the public as artificial intelligence becomes increasingly embedded across global infrastructure.

The boss of ChatGPT-maker OpenAI says people should have more faith in AI firms to keep the tech safe, amid rising public concerns about the risks.

"The world should trust that we are going to do the right thing because it's the right thing and we feel the magnitude of this," Sam Altman said on Tuesday during a conference in San Francisco.

He accepted people were justified in being concerned about AI, as the capability of the tools has progressed rapidly.

But critics say firms cannot be trusted to self-regulate, with left-wing Senator Bernie Sanders and Steve Bannon, a former adviser of US President Donald Trump, among those calling for greater governance of AI.

Trump himself has criticized calls for more guardrails on the fast-moving technology, calling fears about AI's safety a "hoax".

He said the only "guardrails" needed for AI was a "strong and smart" president.

Altman's comments on Tuesday came during an appearance at an annual conference hosted by software firm Salesforce.

"It doesn't take as much imagination as it used to for [us] to imagine how this could go wrong," he said. "I think the world is right to be afraid of this."

But AI bosses themselves have also admitted it may be difficult to regulate a technology which is changing so quickly.

In an interview with Axios published on 3 September, Altman said he had expected Congress to create a "basic framework" for advanced AI after his 2023 testimony, but that has yet to happen.

He suggested lawmakers have struggled to keep pace with the technology and to regulate it without "slow[ing] down innovation".

New safety legislation on AI is unlikely to emerge from the US Congress anytime soon, despite the fact lawmakers returned from their summer break on Monday.

There is a lack of consensus within both US parties on how any regulation would happen - and the House is set to enter recess again at the end of the week ahead of the midterm elections in early November.