Altman Says the World Should Accept Some Bad Things Happening; the Same Day NYC Council Asks Four Companies If They Carry Catastrophe Insurance and Nobody Raises a Hand
On October 5 the New York City Council held the first AI safety hearing ever run by a city legislature. A day earlier Sam Altman told Politico that the world should accept some bad things happening for the benefits of this technology.
Three key facts
Altman's full position: he rejects the idea that a single lab in San Francisco should hold the technology and decide how benefits are distributed, favors lighter-touch regulation, believes people will produce orders of magnitude more good stuff than bad stuff, and calls this a fundamental worldview difference with Anthropic. AI entrepreneur Gary Marcus fired back at the hearing that it sounds like a drug company saying some people are going to get addicted and we do not really care.
The four companies agreed to sworn testimony after the council threatened subpoenas. OpenAI sent Morgan Dwyer, Anthropic sent Logan Graham, Meta sent Shane Cahill and Google sent Alice Friend, all appearing remotely. SpaceX AI was subpoenaed and did not show. According to amNY and Fortune, none of the four put a number on catastrophic risk, none committed to blocking a release that fails an independent safety test, and when asked whether their companies carry insurance against catastrophic AI risk, not one raised a hand.
Former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon testified that on the current path it is more likely than not that humanity loses control to these AIs, and it could end in human extinction. Former OpenAI researcher Daniel Kokotajlo said current safety measures are duct tape that will fall off later. Speaker Julie Menin's package runs to 10 bills, with fines of $25,000 per violation.
WangDou's Take
The world should accept some bad things happening. He did not say to whom, but it will not be OpenAI's valuation. The same day, four companies were asked whether they carry catastrophe insurance, and nobody raised a hand. In plain language: the driver says accidents are unavoidable, then admits he is uninsured. The best part is who showed up: government affairs vice presidents, not a single CEO. Altman had time for a Politico interview but not for an oath at City Hall. A $25,000 fine per violation is a parking ticket for a company with tens of billions in revenue. But the value of this hearing was never the fine. It was the first time anyone made four companies answer, under oath, who is responsible when it fails. Their answer was silence.
Source: Fox News · OpenAI CEO says world should accept some bad things happening · Fortune · Ex-OpenAI researcher tells NYC lawmakers AI safety fixes may be duct tape · amNY