OpenAI chief warns against “strict regulation” of AI

OpenAI’s head, Sam Altman, spoke out on Monday against “hard regulation” of AI, which threatens to hamper its development, stressing, however, the need for long-term institutional oversight.

Last month, Mr. Altman, whose company created the ChatGPT interface, estimated before a US parliamentary committee that government intervention to regulate AI would be “critical” to “reducing the risks” associated with the technology.

But the head of OpenAI, who was speaking at Tel Aviv University on Monday, stressed that his call for AI oversight is not about “today’s systems.”

“I think it would be a mistake to strictly regulate this field or try to slow down this amazing innovation,” he said.

But risk a “Misused superintelligence” is real, he admitted. It is “something we may have to deal with over the next decade that doesn’t give the world’s institutions much time to adjust.”

He again proposed the creation of an “international organization”, which would use “computing power and technical tools” to create “a framework (…) to license AI interfaces, to verify its security system and (for it to) provide tests for it to pass.”

“It would be a way to deal with the risks” of diverting AI from its initial use, he said, considering this risk “extremely serious”.

He justified this by saying: “We are doing the same for nuclear energy,” citing the example of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

During a meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog earlier in the day, Mr. Altmann stressed “the importance and urgency of finding ways to reduce these significant risks.” “Everyone wants to find a solution,” he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Altman told him in a telephone interview that Israel “could become a major global player in the field” of artificial intelligence.

In a press release, Mr Netanyahu estimated that his country – where the high-tech sector already constitutes a heavy weight in the economy – should “develop a national policy” regarding artificial intelligence.

Mr. Altman’s visit to Israel is part of an international tour aimed at reassuring people about the use of OpenAI by the general public and companies.

OpenAI’s generative AI systems, ChatGPT for text, and Dall-E for images, which opened to the general public at the end of 2022 with resounding success and in a legal vacuum, have raised a series of concerns, particularly with regard to misinformation and potential job destruction.