OpenAI boss says world 'right to be afraid' but should trust AI firms

illuminem summarises for you the essential news of the day, reviewed by our editorial team. Read the full piece on BBC News or enjoy below:

🗞️ Driving the news: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said Tuesday that the world is right to be afraid of AI but should trust developers to act responsibly, telling a Salesforce conference in San Francisco that his company and the industry can regulate themselves
• Nvidia's Jensen Huang said at the same event that no new laws or regulations are needed, calling safety an engineering problem
• Meta's Mark Zuckerberg argued labs face liability and competitive incentives that make external rules unnecessary

🔭 The context: The remarks follow a viral resignation post by an Anthropic researcher claiming AI could kill all humans by the decade's end, and Dario Amodei's subsequent call for slower development and government regulation, applauded by Altman, DeepMind's Demis Hassabis and Elon Musk
• Political figures across the spectrum reject self-regulation
• Senator Bernie Sanders said decisions are being made by a handful of the richest people rather than the public, while former Trump strategist Steve Bannon said oligarchs cannot be trusted.

🌍 Why it matters for corporate governance and sustainability: The industry has converged on voluntary standards precisely as external scrutiny intensifies, which is the recurring pattern wherever self-regulation substitutes for enforceable rules
• Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark told the BBC that a totally unregulated industry means rolling dice with immense risks

⏭️ What's next: OpenAI and Anthropic say they are working toward an industry-wide safety agreement, with OpenAI's Chris Lehane describing a voluntary effort proceeding with or without government support, alongside Google DeepMind
• Amodei said Anthropic is in dialogue with the industry on safety standards and checks

💬 One quote: "If you believe what you are building is dangerous, show us what you are prepared to stop doing" — Patrick Hillman, Chief Operating Officer, Logical Intelligence

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