OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has issued a 324-word statement in response to Nobel Prize winner Geoffrey Hinton's claim that artificial intelligence has a 10 percent chance of 'killing all humans in 10 years'. Altman publicly endorsed federal regulation and urged competitors to adopt new safety measures in the interim.
Hinton's warning and industry reactions
Last week, Geoffrey Hinton, known as the 'Godfather of AI', told BBC Newsnight that AI could spell the end of civilisation by 2036. "It would be foolish to say there's a one percent chance. Nobody knows how to estimate it. A 10 per cent chance seems not unreasonable to me," he said. He added: "If it's much smarter than us, there are so many ways I do not think it's worth speculating."
His remarks echoed those of British AI software engineer Jacob Coxon, who resigned from OpenAI rival Anthropic in protest. The debate has led Altman and Elon Musk, who developed AI agent Grok, to agree with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei that external 'auditors' should be appointed at 'frontier' AI companies, according to the Express.
Altman's call for safety measures
Posting on X early on Monday, September 14, Altman wrote: "The world deserves confidence that American companies developing increasingly capable AI will act responsibly, especially as the trajectory of progress has steepened. Every frontier lab must deliver on this, and there is no reason any of us should come to work if we cannot."
He welcomed a federal framework for consistent safety requirements but said the industry should not wait for legislation. "Consistent rules to manage frontier risk so that we can maximize the benefits are a good idea (and we are excited by ideas like independent auditors)," he said.
Pacing versus stopping
Altman clarified that development would continue: "When we talk about 'pacing', we do not mean 'stopping'. Progress has been rapid and will continue to be. But it should be slower than it otherwise could be; interventions like safety cases and monitoring have significant costs." He added: "Pacing will be well worth this cost; no amount of American competitive pressure should justify recklessness, or let capabilities get ahead of alignment and monitoring."
US President Donald Trump dismissed 'a lot of negative forces' for 'bringing up things that won't happen' when asked about new regulations in response to Musk's statement 'Dario is right'. In the UK, top government figures said they are 'pleased [AI] companies are also talking about the threats'. Housing Secretary Angela Rayner, calling the UK "world leaders" in AI security, stated: "We have put robust systems in place here in the UK, like the AI Security Institute, to make sure we're building resilience so that we get the benefit as well as really understand and protect against any risk."
