Sam Altman says AI could "lose control of the future" as it outpaces human oversight

Recent warnings from leading artificial-intelligence executives have intensified a debate over whether their dire predictions reflect real concern or amount to marketing. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei warned at the United Nations last month that poorly managed AI could threaten humanity, while Sam Altman of OpenAI separately warned that the AI his company sells could outpace human oversight. Those remarks helped fuel broad discussion among journalists and policymakers about risks to human existence from AI. Some critics, including linguist Emily Bender and computer scientist Timnit Gebru, contend the industry uses such warnings to bring in funding, shift focus from existing problems, and win easier regulation. The article rejects that theory, arguing many executives, researchers, and former employees truly think AI could produce disastrous outcomes, though their precise predictions remain uncertain.