OpenAI episode less 'nerve-racking' than race to build AGI: Sam Altman

Sam Altman said his dramatic, quickly reversed launch on OpenAI was less unnerving than the way the world is approaching making AI as capable as humans.

“As the world moves closer to artificial general intelligence, the risks, the pressures, the level of stress — all of this will rise,” ChatGPT CEO and co-founder said at a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Thursday.

Artificial intelligence was a major topic at this year's Davos summit, as business leaders debated how best to use the technology after a flurry of investment, while raising concerns about risks, including its potential impact on democracy during a bumper election year.

The rapid progress in this field and companies racing to realize a hypothetical future of artificial general intelligence, or AGI, has led many policymakers to call for regulation.

Altman's ouster by the board last November was “a microcosm of it, but perhaps not the most stressful experience we've ever faced,” he said, speaking at a panel on technology in a turbulent world. He said the incident taught the company not to let “non-urgent problems” linger.

“We knew our board was getting too small, and we knew we didn't have the level of experience that we needed, but last year was such a difficult year for us in so many ways that we kind of neglected it,” he said.