Should the public accept AI risks to keep technology in human hands?

OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman argues that powerful artificial intelligence must remain widely accessible to the public, declaring We believe that the world should accept some bad things happening for the benefits of this technology and people having the agency.

Altman dismissed proposals to restrict advanced systems to a single research laboratory in San Francisco, even as lawmakers in Washington weigh bipartisan proposals requiring outside safety evaluators for leading artificial intelligence firms.

However, safety researchers caution that the industry moves far too recklessly, with former safety lead Geoffrey Irving warning of an estimated 50 percent chance that smarter-than-human artificial intelligence could lead to human extinction.