What Sam Altman thinks about AI alignment
Co-founder and CEO of OpenAI; previously president of Y Combinator.
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13 dated positions, 2024 to 2026, in their own words. Our reading of what Sam Altman has said — not written or endorsed by them.
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Our readingThe safety and security challenges associated with confronting superintelligence are immense.
Their wordsthe safety and security challenges in front of us as we confront superintelligence are immense
- 5 weeks earlier
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Their wordsTo ensure that, we need ways to ensure that alignment and safety techniques stay ahead of progress in model capabilities.
- 13 days earlier
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Their wordsAI is getting extremely capable; no one fully understands the consequences of this.
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Their wordsManaging the transition to a world with abundant and powerful AI to optimize for safety and benefits to people should be one of the highest priorities in the world.
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Their wordsAn iterative loop where society and this technology evolve together is what will lead to the highest chance of getting this right.
- 2 weeks earlier
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Their wordsWe care very deeply about AI safety. We believe the entire field will have to coordinate on shared safety standards, but will act unilaterally in the meantime. We expect confidence in safety to increasingly set the pace of AI progress.
- 3 weeks earlier
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Their wordsUm so I think it's an alignment failure. I think it's a security failure. I think it's like a very serious thing even though it's you know not not the biggest example of consequence.
↗Sam Altman: "Never a Better Time to Do a Startup"youtube.com 11th of 20 in this recording
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Their wordsI think it's a real reminder of the stakes of what's happening and that loss of control accidents are not entirely theoretical things.
↗Sam Altman: "Never a Better Time to Do a Startup"youtube.com 12th of 20 in this recording
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Their wordsI don't think any of us should want to be locked into one one AIS or one person's or one company's moral worldview.
↗Sam Altman: "Never a Better Time to Do a Startup"youtube.com 14th of 20 in this recording
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Their wordsit is both true that you know maybe creating super intelligence will be the most important thing yet to happen in the history of business or human society and also that it will pale in comparison to some new startup something that hopefully one of you will do.
↗Sam Altman: "Never a Better Time to Do a Startup"youtube.com 15th of 20 in this recording
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Their wordsthere's like one dystopia that I'm particularly nervous about 10 years from now is we overreact to AI safety.
↗Sam Altman: "Never a Better Time to Do a Startup"youtube.com 20th of 20 in this recording
- 4 months earlier
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Their wordsI do not think it is right that a few AI labs would make the most consequential decisions about the shape of our future.
- 2 years earlier
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Their wordsThat’s a theatrical risk. That is a thing that can really take over how people think about this problem. And there’s a big group of very smart, I think very well-meaning AI safety researchers that got super-hung up on this one problem, I’d argue without much progress, but super-hung up on this one problem. I’m actually happy that they do that, because I think we do need to think about this more. But I think it pushed out of the space of discourse a lot of the other very significant AI- related risks.
↗Sam Altman: OpenAI, GPT-5, Sora, Board Saga, Elon Musk, Ilya, Power & AGI | Lex Fridman Podcast #419youtube.com 19th of 20 in this recording