OpenAI’s Altman and Anthropic’s Amodei address UN security council

Sam Altman of OpenAI and Dario Amodei of Anthropic, heads of two of the world’s largest artificial intelligence companies, addressed the United Nations security council on Wednesday in separate briefings on AI safety.

“We have a choice in front of us,” Altman told the council. “AI can either be more like a new renaissance of creativity and discovery, or more like a new industrial revolution of upheaval and disarray.”

Altman and Amodei spoke as their companies face increasing scrutiny over the safety of their products. Public alarm over AI has grown in response to warnings from Anthropic researchers earlier this month that the technology could destroy humanity within the decade. Leaders of AI companies, including Altman and Amodei, have since called for a slowdown on advancing AI and more international cooperation on the technology’s safety standards.

Altman, who sat at the corner of the security council’s horseshoe-shaped table and spoke for about 10 minutes, touted AI’s benefits to productivity while also warning of its potential abuses. He advocated for governments to come together to build a future where AI is guided by democratic institutions, rather than one where people feel like the technology is “something being done to them”.