16 Surprising and Fascinating Moments from Sam Altman's World Tour
🤖 Introduction
Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, has been on a world tour, sharing his insights on artificial intelligence (AI) and its impact on humanity. After watching over 10 hours of interviews, I have compiled a list of 16 surprising and fascinating moments from his tour. From AI designing new AI to fresh Chachi PT leaks shooting railguns to open source, here's everything I learned in no particular order.
1. AI's Designing Their Own Architecture
Sam Altman warns about AI's designing their own architecture. He believes that it would be a mistake to hand over the decision-making process to AI and let them change their own architecture. The future of humanity should be determined by humanity, and it is an active choice we can make. While it seems like a good idea, there is a risk that one of their models could design the next model, and we are definitely very concerned about superintelligence.
2. Risks from Super Intelligence
Sam Altman and OpenAI's chief scientist, Ilya Satskova, agreed that the risks from superintelligence were not science fiction. It would be a big mistake to build a superintelligence AI that we don't know how to control. The world should treat it as something that we may have to confront in the next decade, which is not very long.
3. Sam Altman's Warning About AI Race
Sam Altman hinted twice, once in Jordan and once in India, of possible regrets he might have had over firing the starting gun in the AI race. He hopes that 20 years from now, all we can say is that we did far more good than bad. The downside of AI is pretty big, and we feel that weight every day. The hypothetical that we shot the industry out of a railgun and we now don't get to have much impact anymore is something that keeps him up at night.
4. OpenAI's CEO Enjoying the Power
Sam Altman said he enjoys the power that being CEO of OpenAI brings, but also mentioned strange decisions he might have to make. He has lots of selfish reasons for doing this, and he gets all of the power of running OpenAI. He doesn't think it's particularly altruistic because he already has a bunch of money, and the money is going to pile up faster than he can spend it anyway.
5. Risks of Super Intelligence
Wajac Zaremba, OpenAI's co-founder, agreed that the risks of superintelligence were 10 years away. The fear is that fear of AI of the future, not the AI of today. If the trajectory that we are on continues, then in the decade or so, there will be built systems that are as powerful as today's corporations.
6. Deep Fake of Sam Altman
Sam Altman didn't seem that perturbed not just about a deep fake of himself but also on society getting used to misinformation. He thinks that as a society, we're going to rise to the occasion, and we're going to learn very quickly that we don't trust videos unless we trust the provenance.
7. No Regulation of Current Models
Throughout the world tour, Sam Altman repeatedly stated that he didn't believe there should be any regulation of current models. Everybody wants great education, productivity gains, discovery of new science, and all of the stuff that's going to happen, and no one wants to destroy the world. He thinks it would be a mistake to go regulate the current models of today.
8. Customizing Models
Johannes Heidecker from OpenAI research talked about customizing models. They are trying to make their models better at being customizable, making them listen more to additional instructions of what kind of behavior the user or the developer wants.
9. Open Source Unstoppable
Sam Altman called open source unstoppable and realizing that open source is unstoppable and shouldn't be stopped. This stuff is going to be out there, and as a society, we have to adapt.
10. Solving Climate Change
Sam Altman and Ilya Satsukver talked about solving climate change. Once we have a really powerful superintelligence, addressing climate change will not be particularly difficult for a system like that. If we can accelerate the scientific progress, we could get to a very advanced carbon capture much faster.
Pros and Cons
Pros:
- AI can help solve some of the world's biggest problems, such as climate change.
- AI can make our lives easier and more efficient.
- AI can help us discover new science and make great education accessible to everyone.
Cons:
- The risks of superintelligence are not science fiction.
- AI could engineer the next version of the system, building AI that's just crazy.
- The changes in the job market will be dramatic and will be following the story closely.
Highlights
- Sam Altman warns about AI's designing their own architecture.
- The risks from superintelligence were not science fiction.
- Sam Altman thinks that the changes in the job market will be dramatic.
- OpenAI's CEO enjoys the power that being CEO of OpenAI brings.
- Sam Altman repeatedly stated that he didn't believe there should be any regulation of current models.
- Sam Altman called open source unstoppable.
- Sam Altman and Ilya Satsukver talked about solving climate change.
FAQ
Q: What is the biggest risk of AI?
A: The biggest risk of AI is superintelligence, which could be uncontrollable and pose a danger to humankind.
Q: Should there be regulation of current AI models?
A: Sam Altman repeatedly stated that he didn't believe there should be any regulation of current models.
Q: Can AI help solve climate change?
A: Yes, once we have a really powerful superintelligence, addressing climate change will not be particularly difficult for a system like that.
Q: What is the biggest theme in the history of AI?
A: The biggest theme in the history of AI is that it's full of surprises every time you think you know something you scale it up 10x turns out you knew nothing.
Resources:
- OpenAI: https://openai.com/
- Chachi PT: https://www.chachipt.com/
