ChatGPT CEO Talks Elon Musk Feud, Criticizes Biden’s AI Admin Rule

CEO and co-founder of OpenAI, Sam Altman, spoke about Elon Musk’s feud with him and his view on how regulations related to the development of artificial intelligence (AI) should be adapted.

Altman appeared on an episode of The Free Press’s “Frankly With Bari Weiss” podcast that aired Thursday and was asked by Weiss why Musk has publicly criticized him over AI security concerns and sued to block OpenAI from creating a profitable corporation. structure as it was originally established as a non-profit organization.

Musk was a co-founder of OpenAI, but cut ties with the company in 2018 after he was unable to convince its other executives to put him in charge of a profitable OpenAI entity or merge the company with Tesla. Weiss noted that Musk has compared Altman to the antagonistic character “Littlefinger” in the series “Game of Thrones” and that the founder of xAI said he does not trust Altman to lead a company that controls the most advanced artificial intelligence. powerful in the world.

“I think it’s because he wants the most powerful AI in the world to be controlled by him,” Altman said. “And, again, I’ve seen Elon’s attacks on a lot of other people, a lot of my friends — everybody has their time in the spotlight. But this all seems like standard behavior from him.”

“I’m upset about it, for sure. Recently I was talking to someone I thought was close and they said, ‘Elon has no friends. Elon doesn’t make friends, Elon doesn’t make friends.’ And that was a sad moment for me because I think of him as a friend,” Altman said.

“I can look at this somewhat dispassionately, like I remember what it was like when he said OpenAI has a 0% chance of success and you guys are idiots and I’m pulling the funding and I’m going to do my own thing.” he continued.

“I remember how it was when there were moments from that time when it felt like he wanted to reconcile and find a way to work together. And then I remember the times when he’s like, you know, doing his thing on Twitter. “If it was just me, I think it would be a lot more painful,” Altman said. “But you know, I think you see who he is on Twitter, so I can like, keep it kind of impersonal and just be like, this is about Elon, not about me. It’s still disgusting, I’ve got a long time to get used to it, I guess.”

Weiss noted OpenAI’s recent blog post and court filing against Musk’s lawsuit against the company, and asked Altman if he thinks Musk is suing the company for competitive purposes to benefit his firm, xAI, rather than genuine concerns about the security of AI or the creator of ChatGPT’s corporate structure.

Altman replied that she should ask Musk. He then went on to explain that he thinks over-regulation of AI could have “huge negative consequences,” but noted that he, Musk and other major AI companies have been supporters of regulation.

“Some regulation is definitely a good thing. Now, I can imagine versions of AI tweaks that are really problematic and would hurt smaller efforts, and I think that would be a real mistake,” Altman explained. “But for some of the security guardrails in more powerful systems, this should only affect people at the border, which should only affect OpenAI and a handful of others. I don’t think we’re at the level yet where these systems have major security implications, but I don’t think we’re much either away, so that’s the kind of art here.”

Weiss asked Altman about arguments made by some AI startups that OpenAI and other larger AI firms are seeking to build regulatory barriers for smaller competitors that could grow into rivals. He responded that the only regulations he seeks are on “new and untested” activities that are at the frontier of AI development.

Weiss went on to point out comments made by Marc Andreessen on her podcast and his perception that the Biden administration was trying to control AI and regulate it, so there were only a few big companies that would work with the government and would be protected from competition.

“I don’t think it’s true, I don’t know what he’s referring to. I will also say very, very clearly, I think regulation that reduces competition for AI is a very bad thing,” Altman said. Weiss asked if OpenAI and other AI companies were meeting with the Biden administration to discuss that kind of regulatory agreement.

“I don’t even think the Biden administration is competent enough to… I mean, we were in a room with them, the other companies and the administration, but it would never say, ‘Here’s our theory of conspiracy, we will only make it so a few companies that can build AI and then you have to do what we say.’ Never anything like that,” Altman said.

The OpenAI co-founder went on to say that he thought Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo was more attuned to the emergence of AI and the areas that should be prioritized than the Biden administration in general.

“I think Gina Raimondo was and is fantastic. Every conversation I had with her, I thought she somehow got it. Overall, I would say the administration was not that effective,” he said.

“The things that I think should be the priorities of the administration and I hope will be the priorities of the next administration are building massive AI infrastructure in the US, having a supply chain in the US, things like that,” Altman explained.