'It has a real 'ring of power' dynamic to it, and makes people do crazy things' says Sam Altman on AI after alleged arson attack on home

Last week, someone reportedly threw an incendiary device at OpenAI chief Sam Altman's house. Though Altman reports "it bounced off the house and no one got hurt", he has taken to his blog to share his thoughts on the incident.

Altman initially lays out his beliefs. He claims that "working towards prosperity for everyone" is a "moral obligation" and that AI "will be the most powerful tool for expanding human capability and potential that anyone has ever seen."

He then argues that people are justifiably worried about AI and that it will have negative consequences, but it must be democratised and must be adaptable. Altman says, "No one understands the impacts of superintelligence yet, but they will be immense."

He then reflects on his own character, noting he has made many mistakes in his time with OpenAI and that he is "a flawed person in the center of an exceptionally complex situation."

Altman notes artificial general intelligence (AGI), AI that can match human intelligence, has a certain power to it that makes people act in peculiar ways.

The OpenAI CEO says, "My personal takeaway from the last several years, and take on why there has been so much Shakespearean drama between the companies in our field, comes down to this: 'Once you see AGI you can’t unsee it.”

He even likens it to the one ring in The Lord of the Rings, which is wielded by Sauron to dominate others and corrupts most of those who touch it. An interesting comparison for someone trying to sell the benefits of AGI, though Altman is quick to point out that it's not like the ring itself, but just a good summary of the argument around who controls AGI, if anyone.

"It has a real 'ring of power' dynamic to it, and makes people do crazy things. I don’t mean that AGI is the ring itself, but instead the totalizing philosophy of 'being the one to control AGI.”

Altman says that his solution is simply to share the one ring—an AGI hula hoop. He argues that "individual empowerment' and democratic systems must be leveraged to share responsibility and ownership. He says, "We want to be a voice and a stakeholder, but not to have all the power."

Though this does make one wonder why an unelected leader would be a stakeholder in the tool if the goal is to democratise it?

According to the San Francisco Police, we don't yet have the reasoning behind why the person who threw an incendiary device at Altman's house decided to do so. The 20-year-old male currently believed to be responsible is under arrest and being investigated.

Altman finishes his blog with a plea not to throw any more. "While we have that debate, we should de-escalate the rhetoric and tactics and try to have fewer explosions in fewer homes, figuratively and literally."

Though it's worth noting that the debate on these tools is happening, whilst critics fervently argue against OpenAI's safety policies. Just last month, a hardware leader left due to OpenAI's ongoing contracts with the US government and potential for "surveillance of Americans without judicial oversight and lethal autonomy without human authorization".

It also reportedly kicked around the idea of pitting world leaders against each other, by, as our Tyler Wilde puts it, "positioning OpenAI as a kind of nuclear weapon that they'd better compete to invest in, lest they be left behind." Seems like the debate has been going on for some time and likely won't end soon.