Sam Altman, AI’s biggest star, sure hopes someone figures out how not to destroy humanity

Sam Altman, the PT Barnum of the AI industry, has a message for the folks concerned about the technology he’s dedicated his life to advancing: Don’t worry, the nerds are on it.

Sam Altman, the PT Barnum of the AI industry, has a message for the folks concerned about the technology he’s dedicated his life to advancing: Don’t worry, the nerds are on it. Let’s back up a bit. Altman, the 39-year-old venture capitalist and CEO of OpenAI, was speaking with journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin at the New York Times’ Dealbook Summit on Wednesday. Altman was his usual mellow but disarmingly kind self, almost making you forget he’s a billionaire doomsday prepper who has also repeatedly warned about the risks of artificial intelligence. At one point, Sorkin asked: “Do you have any faith that the government, or somebody, is going to figure out how to avoid” the existential threats posed by “superintelligent” AI systems? Cue the shy-guy deflection. “I have faith that researchers will figure out to avoid that,” Altman replied. “I think there’s a set of technical problems that the smartest people in the world are going to work on. And, you know, I’m a little bit too optimistic by nature, but I assume that they’re going to figure that out.”