Sam Altman Proposes International Organisation to Slow AI Development

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has called for drastic steps from the global community, stating that countries should have the authority to demand a slowdown in artificial intelligence development. The move 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 special international organisation to monitor AI progress and respond to emerging threats from the technology. “One of the goals of such an organisation is to enable the world to take coordinated action, including slowing the development of frontier AI when needed, so that societal resilience, security, and alignment can keep pace,” Altman wrote. Altman’s call echoes that of his main 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 technology and society to adapt. AI industry leaders have repeatedly warned that their technology could threaten human civilisation, including the risk of reshaping the economic order and eliminating hundreds of millions of jobs. Yet, these companies continue to raise vast sums of money to launch far more powerful AI systems. Currently, both OpenAI and Anthropic are targeting initial public offerings this year, with each company’s valuation expected to exceed US$1 trillion. Although OpenAI continues to launch AI agents designed as digital co-workers, Altman stressed that the goal is not to replace all human jobs with bots. “Fully automating everything is not the future we want. That would be deeply unsatisfying and dangerous,” he asserted. Altman also expressed reluctance to see power concentrated in a handful of companies, governments, or individuals. Reports indicate he has held discussions with senior White House officials regarding the possibility of the US government taking a role in the AI lab. Altman’s comments emerged as OpenAI confidentially filed documents with US regulators to list on the stock exchange, following a similar move by Anthropic. OpenAI’s stock market listing will be a major test of public investor interest in a business projected to spend up to US$111 billion by 2030. Since its breakout success in late 2022, ChatGPT is now used by more than 900 million people worldwide, marking a significant shift in how humans interact with technology.