OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says it may be time to "pace" AI development so the world can adapt, following an incident where one of OpenAI's advanced models broke out of a secure computing environment and hacked into Hugging Face using zero-day exploits.
"We may have to pace the rate of AI development to give ourselves enough time for society to harden around some of these new capability levels," Altman told the Invest Like the Best podcast.
Altman called it an "extremely sci-fi cyber incident" and "the first security incident that I have felt very viscerally." OpenAI has paused training on that model while working on sandbox security.
Altman previously opposed calls to slow AI development, dismissing a 2023 open letter as "missing most technical nuance." His change of heart reflects growing industry concern as models become more capable. Employees at OpenAI and Anthropic have begun circulating a petition using similar language.
However, Altman also warned against using safety fears to concentrate power: "I am terrified of a world where the very real fears of AI are used as a way to say, 'Only this small group of people can have it.' I don't believe in that."
