OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Believes AI Cannot Replace Humans, Advocates Caution Over Fear
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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently discussed his perspective on AI at the Davos Forum, with his core message being "be cautious, but do not fear."
On January 18, Altman participated in a sub-forum at the 2024 Winter Davos Economic Forum, themed "The Role of Technology in a Turbulent World." During the forum, Altman stated that AI has "many limitations" and should be viewed as a tool that is "very helpful in some areas," rather than becoming overly reliant on it.
In his speech, Altman maintained his stance on AI at the Davos Forum: optimistic about the future of AI, while continuously reminding people not to exaggerate the technology to avoid causing panic. Altman believes AI cannot replace humans because humans are "naturally more interested in other humans." For example, when computers began defeating chess grandmasters in the 1990s, many thought chess competitions would decline. However, chess remained thriving because few people actually wanted to watch two AIs compete.
Altman emphasizes that the technological changes brought by AI are different from those in the past. Instead of eliminating many jobs as feared, AI has become a "magical tool for increasing productivity": "I think the future (brought by AI) is exciting. We can only see part of it and don’t yet know what will come next... Of course, some jobs will be affected or disappear, but human motivation remains strong."
Altman gives an example, saying he has heard many claims that programmers would be replaced by AI, but this is not the case because "the world needs more code than we could previously produce." Altman also acknowledges that people need time to adapt to AI, from the AI technology itself to government regulatory policies. He encourages all parties to conduct more experiments while the cost of making mistakes is still low: "We need to embrace AI technology, be cautious, but not fearful."