Sam Altman went before the US Congress last week and gave American lawmakers a clear message - regulate artificial intelligence.
"I think if this technology goes wrong, it can go quite wrong," said the co-founder of OpenAI, which created the ChatGPT intelligence chatbot that has taken the world by storm.
Altman may have a hit product on his hands, but he is a contradictory figure in tech. He has turned OpenAI from an open source, non-profit organisation created with the aim of countering the power of Google and other Big Tech players into a for-profit enterprise propped up by a US$10 billion investment from Microsoft.
ChatGPT stands to become one of the biggest cash cows since Google invented its ubiquitous search engine. Even Elon Musk, the billionaire who had a hand in OpenAI's creation before parting ways with Altman, sees a problem with that.
"Let's say you funded an organisation to save the Amazon Rainforest and instead they became a lumber company and chopped down the forest and sold it for money," was how he put it last week.
This story is from the June 3-9 2023 edition of New Zealand Listener.
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This story is from the June 3-9 2023 edition of New Zealand Listener.
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