- OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said AI's economic impact should be a top concern.
- “I'm concerned that we won't be able to take this issue seriously enough going forward,” he said during a panel discussion Tuesday.
- Research shows that AI could impact millions of jobs and lead to lower wages.
AI has the potential to wreak havoc in the upcoming election season.
But when OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was asked for his thoughts on how the spread of AI-generated misinformation could affect elections, he said the technology Leaders seemed more concerned about another issue: AI's impact on the economy.
“What I'm most concerned about right now is the speed and scale of socio-economic change and what impact it will have,” Altman said Tuesday during a panel discussion on AI and artificial intelligence at the Brooking Institution. I mean,” he said. Geopolitics.
Altman said discussions about how AI will impact the economy, such as how AI technology could lead to massive job displacement, have subsided this year compared to last year. He said he is concerned about what will happen if people don't take these concerns seriously.
“GPT-4 didn't have a detectably large impact on the economy, so people were like, 'Well, we've been worrying too much about it, and it doesn't matter,'” Altman said during the panel discussion. “He said,” he said. Language Model Powering ChatGPT “I'm concerned that we won't be able to take this issue seriously enough in the future. This is a very big problem.”
Mr. Altman did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider before publication and a question about why he thought it would be a problem.
New research reveals the extent to which AI can disrupt the economy. An International Monetary Fund study earlier this year found that AI could impact around 60% of jobs in “developed countries.” The IMF writes that about half of these jobs could be automated, which could lead to fewer jobs and lower wages. Meanwhile, another McKinsey study found that about 12 million U.S. workers may need to change jobs by 2030.
Workers are already feeling the impact of AI on their jobs. Some CEOs say they've replaced their staff with AI chatbots, and other experts say they've lost jobs to tools like ChatGPT.
AI will not spell doom and gloom for all workers. Those who are optimistic about AI say knowing how to use the technology can save employees time and increase productivity. They can even move up the corporate ladder and make more money.
But Altman said he remains concerned about AI's potential in the labor market. Last year, he told CNBC in an interview that he was “a little scared” of ChatGPT and warned that creating his company could “eliminate” many jobs.
“If I tell you otherwise, I think you either don't believe me or you're very unhappy that I'm in this job,” Altman said.
Axel Springer, Business Insider's parent company, has a global deal that allows OpenAI to train models based on its media brands' reporting.
Axel Springer, Business Insider's parent company, has a global deal that allows OpenAI to train models based on its media brands' reporting.
