OpenAI boss says world 'right to be afraid' but should trust AI firms

Why is Donald Trump so opposed to regulating AI? 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. In an interview with Axios published on 3 September , external , Altman said he had expected Congress to create a "basic framework" for advanced AI after his 2023 testimony, but that has yet to happen. 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. By Tuesday, however, more AI leaders were voicing support for self-regulation rather than government involvement . AI staff 'genuinely frightened' for humanity's future, ex-Anthropic researcher tells BBC AI regulation faces political deadlock as calls grow for Congress to act Leaders of OpenAI and Anthropic have said they have recently started working towards some sort of industry-wide agreement on safety.