Politics
Two Arsonists Hold Press Conference Urging Everyone To Be Careful With Fire
By Mor Michael, . BSN Network. Satire.
Sam Altman, whose company OpenAI is currently spending approximately $500 billion to build the most powerful artificial intelligence systems ever conceived, announced Monday that he supports Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's call to slow the global AI race. Altman described the situation as serious. He made these remarks using a phone.
Amodei, whose company raised $7.3 billion last year specifically to accelerate AI development and is currently valued at $61 billion on the basis of making AI faster than competitors, said this week that the pace of AI advancement poses genuine civilisational risk. He said this in a long essay. The essay was published on Anthropic's website, which runs on servers powered by AI infrastructure, and promoted across social media using AI tools.
The two men are in agreement. The agreement changes nothing about either company's product roadmap.
Altman posted his support on X, a platform he has invested in, from a phone whose operating system his company helped design, to an audience that uses AI tools his company sells. He wrote, and this is a direct quote, that he thinks Dario is right that we should be careful. He did not specify who we refers to, though context suggests it means someone other than OpenAI.
Industry analysts described the moment as historic. "What we're seeing," said Reid Hoffman, who co-founded LinkedIn and has invested in multiple AI companies including OpenAI, "is a rare moment of genuine moral leadership from the people best positioned to provide it, which is also the most profitable position to be in right now, and I want to be clear those two things are unrelated." Hoffman did not elaborate. He has a new book out.
The cascade of AI safety warnings this week has been notable for who is delivering them. Researchers at Google DeepMind, Meta AI, and several university labs with significant AI industry funding all published papers or statements urging caution. Several of those researchers are listed as co-inventors on the patents their caution is warning against. This is described in the field as a rich intellectual tradition.
When asked what slowing down would concretely look like, a spokesperson for OpenAI said the company is committed to a thoughtful, principled approach to capability development that centers safety at every stage of deployment while continuing to deliver world-class products to its 500 million users at a pace that meets market demand. The spokesperson then left the room, which is one way to end a conversation.
Amodei's essay, which runs to approximately 15,000 words and has been widely praised for its seriousness, argues that without coordination among AI labs, governments, and international bodies, the technology could develop faster than humanity's ability to govern it. Anthropic subsequently announced a partnership with Amazon worth up to $4 billion to expand its computing infrastructure. The essay does not mention Amazon.
What both CEOs appear to be calling for, in plain language, is for other people to slow down. The other people are mostly smaller labs with less funding, fewer engineers, and no seat at whatever table gets assembled to discuss the slowing. This is sometimes called governance and sometimes called a moat, depending on who is describing it and whether there is a journalist in the room.
Altman is expected to testify before Congress again this year. He has testified before Congress three times. Congress has passed zero AI regulations. Altman described each hearing as a great conversation.
The arsonists have asked that any questions about the fire be directed to their communications teams.
The story we are making fun of: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/anthropic-ceo-dario-amodei-ai-development-rcna597383