Sam Altman’s remarks at the United Nations Security Council

Today, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman addressed the United Nations Security Council on artificial intelligence. He discussed AI’s potential to expand opportunity, the importance of keeping powerful systems under human control, and the need for international cooperation on AI safety.

Thank you, Mr. President and your Excellencies. I’m honored to be here and to be able to speak with you all at this important time.

We have been talking about artificial intelligence for years, but it feels different in recent weeks and months. Rapid model progress has made the timeline feel more compressed, the upside more tangible, but also the stakes and the risks more immediate.

We have a choice in front of us. AI can either be more like a new Renaissance of creativity and discovery, or more like a new Industrial Revolution of upheaval and disarray.

The Renaissance was a time when new tools, new ideas, and new institutions expanded what people believed they could do. AI can play that role for our time. I believe that people are much more capable than they imagine themselves to be, but have been held back by limited technology that was meant to empower but instead distracts and often steals attention.

The best version of AI is not about making people cogs in a giant machine, or optimizing every part of life until the human parts disappear. It is about giving people more agency in an ever more complex world: more ability to learn, to create, discover, build, participate. There are many things that AI cannot—and should not—automate.

AI should be built for people, not simply to turn the crank of the machines faster for their own sake. Some of the things people working to build AI have said are so dystopian that they sound like the plot of bad science fiction movies.

Anything this powerful is also intimidating. This moment is complicated as we feel both tremendous potential and very understandable anxiety at the same time.

These models can help people discover new knowledge: new medicines, better health care, stronger education, and build more productive economies. They can be new tools for people to pursue dreams and ambition that today feel out of reach. The complexity of life has increased so dramatically for the average person. AI can be a defensive tool against this complexity as much as it can be this tool of unprecedented discovery and innovation.

On the other hand, as AI systems become more capable and more autonomous, they could move faster than our institutions, concentrate power in too few hands, or make decisions that people no longer understand or control.

That concern becomes especially important as we approach systems that can improve themselves and future versions of themselves, often called recursive self-improvement. As the process of building AI becomes more automated, the pace of AI progress could accelerate rapidly. This moment calls for extreme care.

I largely agree with Professor Bengio. Although I’ll say two instead of three—I believe there are two ways that AI progress could go very badly that we have to avoid.

First, we could lose control of the future to AI. The risk is that it moves so fast that people can no longer follow what’s happening or intervene when needed. This would obviously be terrible.

The industry must not accept too much technological risk just because the benefits are too great and that they feel too important to slow down. Beating companies in a competitive pace is not a reason to make rash decisions. Nor do we believe we are locked in a race where we are unable to do that. We have unilaterally slowed down in the past. We will do so in the future. We do not want to build systems—we think it’s important that everyone avoids building systems—where we cannot make the alignment, monitorability, and safety guarantees that we must.

We need to understand what these systems are doing and have strong evidence that they will do what people intend, even as they get very, very smart. Actually especially as they get very very smart. It doesn’t matter whether people put the risk of catastrophe at 10%, or 1%, or 12%, or .1%. None of these levels are remotely acceptable. And we should not train models that we cannot make an extremely strong case that we will be able to keep under human control.

So that’s one way things can go wrong. In the other direction, these systems could concentrate too much power in too few hands. No one person or company or country should be able to use the most powerful AI models to impose their worldview on everyone else. A company or country that believes only it can be trusted with this technology can use that belief to justify almost anything else. We have to reject that logic, even when it’s convenient for any one actor.

Nemmen li hemm triq prammatika bejn dawn iż-żewġ estremi. F’OpenAI, nindirizzaw dawn il-mistoqsijiet b’għan ċar: l-IA għandha tagħti lin-nies aktar kontroll fuq ħajjithom. Aktar libertà biex jgħixu kif jixtiequ. Aktar kapaċità biex isolvu problemi, kbar jew żgħar, u jtejbu l-komunitajiet tagħhom. Ma rridux naqgħu fin-nassa tal-ottimiżmu għami. Lanqas ma rridu naqgħu fin-nassa tal-pessimiżmu katastrofiku. Jekk ninġibdu lejn xi wieħed minn dawn l-estremi, mhux se jirnexxilna nindirizzaw l-isfidi li għandna quddiemna, speċjalment fi żmien meta d-dinja u n-nies tagħha qed jiffaċċjaw sfidi enormi li din it-teknoloġija tista’ tgħin issolvi. Għalhekk nippruvaw nimxu fit-triq tan-nofs bejn dawn iż-żewġ estremi.

Għalina, dan ifisser tliet prinċipji.

L-ewwel, hekk kif l-IA ssir aktar kapaċi, in-nies għandhom jibqgħu fiċ-ċentru tat-teħid tad-deċiżjonijiet dwarha. L-allinjament mhuwiex kwistjoni astratta ta’ riċerka. Huwa l-ħidma biex niżguraw li dawn is-sistemi jibqgħu b’mod affidabbli taħt il-kontroll tal-bniedem, jirriflettu l-valuri umani, u jgħinu lin-nies jiggwidaw l-istadji li jmiss tal-iżvilupp. M’aħniex nippruvaw, u lanqas għandna, nawtomatizzaw il-ġudizzju jew il-valuri tal-bniedem.

It-tieni, il-benefiċċji tal-progress xjentifiku u tat-tkabbir ekonomiku jridu jinħolqu min-nies u jkunu għan-nies. L-IA għandha tgħin lir-riċerkaturi jagħmlu skoperti, lit-tobba jikkuraw lill-pazjenti, lill-għalliema jgħallmu lill-istudenti, lill-imprendituri jwaqqfu kumpaniji, lill-komunitajiet isolvu problemi li kienu jidhru impossibbli, u ħafna aktar. L-istorja kontinwa tal-progress uman mhijiex li l-għodod jieħdu post l-awtonomija tal-bniedem. Hija li l-għodod it-tajba jagħmlu lin-nies aktar kapaċi, u nemmen li dan se jwassalna ferm lil hinn minn dak li naħsbu li hu possibbli.

It-tielet, din it-teknoloġija trid tagħti s-setgħa lil kull individwu. Futur mill-aqwa jinħoloq meta n-nies jilħqu l-potenzjal tagħhom u joħolqu valur għalihom infushom, għall-komunitajiet tagħhom, għal pajjiżhom u għad-dinja kollha. Nistgħu nkunu fost dawk li qed jibnu din it-teknoloġija, iżda m’aħniex l-eroj ta’ din l-istorja. Ir-rwol tagħna huwa li nagħtu l-mezzi lin-nies madwar id-dinja u nafdaw fil-qawwa straordinarja tal-ħiliet u l-fakultajiet tal-umanità.

Issa għandna mudelli li kapaċi jiskopru għarfien li qatt ma kellna qabel. Ikkunsidraw il-progress li rajna fil-matematika. Tliet sjuf ilu, il-mudelli tagħna kienu raġonevolment tajbin fil-matematika tal-iskola primarja. Żewġ sjuf ilu, kienu pjuttost tajbin fil-kompetizzjonijiet tal-matematika tal-iskola sekondarja. Is-sajf li għadda, ilħaqna livell ta’ midalja tad-deheb fl-aktar kompetizzjoni internazzjonali prestiġjuża tal-matematika. U ftit ġimgħat ilu biss, dan is-sajf, wieħed mill-mudelli tagħna solva waħda mill-Problemi tal-Premju tal-Millenju: l-ekwazzjonijiet ta’ Navier–Stokes.

Dawn l-ekwazzjonijiet jintużaw fid-disinn tal-inġenji tal-ajru, fit-tbassir tat-temp u fl-istudju tal-fluss tad-demm. M’aħniex insolvu problemi tal-matematika sempliċement għalihom infushom, iżda biex nagħtu lin-nies il-mezzi jiskopru għarfien ġdid u jużawh biex itejbu l-kura tas-saħħa, jgħollu l-livelli tal-għajxien, u jwessgħu l-potenzjal ta’ kulħadd madwar id-dinja. Għad fadal ħafna x’niskopru.

Iżda huwa importanti ħafna li l-kumpaniji ma jiħdux post il-proċess demokratiku.

Jekk l-IA għandha tkun demokratika, l-aktar deċiżjonijiet importanti ma jistgħux jittieħdu mil-laboratorji f’San Francisco biss. Dawn iridu jiġu ffurmati permezz ta’ proċessi demokratiċi u minn gvernijiet responsabbli lejn in-nies li jaqdu.

Fil-livell internazzjonali, dan se jirrikjedi kooperazzjoni. Matul l-istorja tagħna, kien hemm żminijiet meta pajjiżi li jikkompetu u mhux dejjem jaqblu bejniethom xorta ngħaqdu minħabba interessi komuni u għall-ġid kollettiv quddiem teknoloġija ġdida u qawwija. Aħna nemmnu li dan għandu jkun wieħed minn dawk iż-żminijiet.

Neħtieġu mekkaniżmu għal standards nazzjonali u internazzjonali komplementari għall-IA avvanzata: standards biex jitkejlu l-kapaċitajiet, jiġu vvalutati r-riskji, jiġi ddeterminat jekk is-salvagwardji humiex biżżejjed, u tinżamm sorveljanza umana sinifikanti hekk kif is-sistemi jsiru aktar awtonomi.

Neħtieġu standards komuni biex il-pajjiżi jkunu jistgħu jqabblu l-evidenza, jivverifikaw il-konformità, u jkollhom lingwaġġ u fehim komuni ta’ dak li qed jiġri.

Neħtieġu rappurtar preċiż u rapidu tal-inċidenti, kif ukoll protokolli għall-klassifikazzjoni u r-rappurtar, sabiex id-dinja titgħallem mill-fallimenti qabel ma jsiru katastrofi.

U neħtieġu mezzi siguri bejn il-gvernijiet, l-operaturi tal-infrastruttura kritika u l-esperti tekniċi biex jaqsmu informazzjoni dwar vulnerabbiltajiet emerġenti u theddid ġdid.

Naturalment, dawn l-istandards m’għandhomx isaħħu l-pożizzjoni tal-operaturi eżistenti jew jiffavorixxu mudell kummerċjali partikolari. Għandhom jappoġġaw lill-iżviluppaturi ta’ mudelli miftuħa u magħluqa, lil operaturi ġodda u laboratorji stabbiliti, kif ukoll l-awtorità nazzjonali u l-kooperazzjoni internazzjonali. Kull gvern għandu jiddeċiedi kif jinkorpora l-istandards fis-sistema legali tiegħu. Iżda lkoll inkunu f’qagħda aħjar jekk naqblu dwar kif għandhom ikunu evidenza tajba, salvagwardji tajbin u sorveljanza tajba fix-xena globali.

M’għandniex it-tweġibiet kollha u lesti nilqgħu kwalunkwe idea aħjar. Lesti naħdmu magħkom ilkoll u nagħmlu l-almu tagħna biex insibu t-triq ’il quddiem.

Ninsabu f’salib it-toroq. Triq minnhom twassal għal dinja fejn il-poter ikun ikkonċentrat, id-deċiżjonijiet ma jkunux trasparenti, u n-nies iħossu li l-aktar teknoloġija importanti ta’ ħajjithom hija xi ħaġa li qed tiġi imposta fuqhom. It-triq l-oħra twassal għal dinja fejn l-IA taħdem għan-nies għax in-nies, permezz tal-istituzzjonijiet demokratiċi, jgħinu jiddeċiedu kif għandha tiżviluppa u jiggwidawha; fejn il-progress xjentifiku jtejjeb il-ħajja reali; fejn aktar nies jistgħu jieħdu sehem fil-futur; u fejn din it-teknoloġija tkompli tagħti lill-individwi u lill-komunitajiet aktar setgħa biex jgħixu kif jagħżlu huma. Dan huwa futur ta’ potenzjal imwettaq, entużjażmu u stagħġib.

U huwa l-futur li nemmnu li ta’ min nibnu. Grazzi ħafna.