Ari Emanuel, CEO of sports and entertainment conglomerate Endeavor, has taken a swipe at OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Emanuel labeled Altman as a “con man” who cannot be trusted with the future of artificial intelligence.
What Happened: Emanuel’s spelled out his criticism of Altman during the Aspen Ideas Festival on Friday. He echoed Elon Musk’s concerns about AI, stating, “If he’s nervous, then we should be nervous,” stressing the importance of implementing “guardrails” around AI.
Emanuel’s critique of Altman centered on his management of ChatGPT-parent OpenAI, which transitioned from a non-profit to a “capped-profit” structure. He questioned Altman’s credibility, in light of recent scrutiny over OpenAI’s commitment to its original mission of prioritizing humanity’s benefit over profits.
“I think he is a con man,” Emanuel said referring to Altman, adding, “Started off with Elon (who) gave him a lot of money. It’s supposed to be non-profit, now he is making a lot of money. I don’t know why we trust him.”
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Why It Matters: Altman, who attended the same event two days earlier with Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky, had underscored the need for societal input in building AI responsibly. Emanuel, however, expressed doubt about whether innovators have sufficiently considered the potential downsides of AI.
Earlier this month, a Google software engineer accused OpenAI of setting back AI research progress by 5 to 10 years. He said that OpenAI has “single-handedly changed the game,” significantly delaying progress toward achieving AGI by several years.
“They caused this complete closing down of Frontier research publishing but also they triggered this initial burst of hype around LLMs and now LLMs have sucked the oxygen out of the room," he stated.
Meanwhile, it was previously reported that before his tenure at OpenAI, Altman was a successful angel investor, with stakes in around 125 early-stage companies. His successful exits from these investments significantly increased his net worth.
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