Sam Altman Proposes International Organisation to Slow AI Development
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has called for drastic action from the global community, stating that nations must have the authority to demand a slowdown in the development of artificial intelligence (AI). This step is considered crucial to avoid ‘catastrophic risks’ that could threaten humanity.
In a post on his official blog, the creator of ChatGPT proposed the formation of a specialised international organisation to monitor AI progress and respond to emerging threats from the technology.
“One of the goals of such an organisation would be to enable the world to take coordinated action, including slowing down the development of frontier AI when necessary, so that societal resilience, safety, and alignment can remain in step,” Altman wrote.
Altman’s call aligns with that of his primary rival, Anthropic, which previously urged a global freeze on advanced AI research. Anthropic executives stated that the world needs the option to temporarily halt development to allow safety technologies and society time to adapt.
AI industry leaders have repeatedly warned that their technology has the potential to threaten human civilisation, including the risk of disrupting economic orders and eliminating hundreds of millions of jobs. Conversely, these companies continue to raise massive amounts of capital to launch even more powerful AI systems.
Currently, both OpenAI and Anthropic are targeting initial public offerings (IPOs) this year, with the valuations of each company estimated to potentially surpass US$1 trillion.
While OpenAI continues to launch AI agents designed as digital co-workers, Altman emphasised that the goal is not to replace all human labour with bots. “Total automation of everything is not the future we want. It would be unsatisfying and dangerous,” he asserted.
Altman also expressed his reluctance to see power centralised within a handful of companies, governments, or individuals. Reports indicate that he has held discussions with senior White House officials regarding the possibility of the US government taking a role in AI laboratories.
Altman’s comments emerge as OpenAI has secretly filed documents with US regulators to list on the stock exchange. This follows in the footsteps of Anthropic, which has submitted similar filings.
Listing OpenAI on the capital market will be a major test of public investor interest in a business projected to spend up to US$111 billion by 2030. Since its success in late 2022, ChatGPT has been used by more than 900 million people worldwide, marking a significant shift in how humans interact with technology.