Sam Altman's doomsday 'bunker' confession as OpenAI CEO fears 'bombs dropping'
Sam Altman has told of his 'concrete basement' as tech billionaires plan bunkers for a dystopian future and world wars.
The boss of OpenAI, which makes ChatGPT, is among the super wealthy who are taking measures to protect themselves in an increasingly dangerous world. While fears of World War Three and talk of nuclear armageddon are never far away, there is also worry about the direction artificial intelligence could take, especially with the possibility that it could soon out-think humans. And then there are tech bosses, who are projecting the potential for a new dystopian world, who appear to be taking steps to protect themselves.
Altman is at the forefront of AI developments with ChatGPT and he has also co-founded Worldcoin, a cryptocurrency which has a global identity network using iris scanning technology to recognise people. It comes after NATO scrambled warplanes as Russia shoots down West's F-16 fighter jet in Ukraine onslaught.
Speaking on a podcast by comedian Theo Von, Altman chatted about AI's potential and also revealed he had a form of bunker at his home.
'I have underground concrete, heavy reinforcement basements but I don't have something I would call a bunker,' he said. But Von responded: 'That's a bunker dude.' So Altman replied: 'What is the difference between a basement and a bunker?'
And the host said: 'A place you can hide when it all goes off or whatever.' Altman continued: 'I have been thinking actually that I should do a good version of one of those but I don't have what I would call a bunker - but it has been on my mind. Not because of AI but just because, like, people are dropping bombs in the world again.'
His comments come with Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg having also told of having a bunker - but he too has played it down by describing it as a 'little shelter' or a 'basement' in Hawaii.
Meanwhile, a co-founder of OpenAI proposed building a 'doomsday bunker' which could be used by researchers for the company in an emergency "rapture" scenario, according to a new book.
Ilya Sutskever is said, in the book Empire of AI by Karen Hao, to have arranged a meeting with OpenAI scientists in 2023 during which he said: 'Once we all get into the bunker…' And a confused researcher responded: 'I'm sorry, the bunker?'
Sutskever replied: 'We're definitely going to build a bunker before we release AGI." It is understood he felt a bunker would be needed as he foresaw the possibility of a world war involving AGI - an artificial intelligence which exceeds human capabilities.
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