OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that treating AI models as deities or giving them “religious power” poses a real security threat. He believes that the danger lies in people completely abandoning their own judgment and human judgment in favor of machines.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that treating AI models as deities or giving them “religious power” poses a real security threat. He believes that the danger lies in people completely abandoning their own judgment and human judgment in favor of machines.
The head of the technology giant wrote about this on the X network (Twitter), Business Insider reports. Altman’s statement came against the backdrop of a publication in The New York Times about secret meetings of the co-founder of rival company Anthropic with religious leaders, as well as after the high-profile dismissal of OpenAI’s top security manager David Robinson, who publicly criticized his former employer’s approaches to risk assessment.
In his post, the head of OpenAI expressed himself briefly but categorically. “I find it very unpleasant that people try to attribute religious power or a rejection of human reason to AI models, and I believe this is a real security threat,” wrote Sam Altman.
Experts suggest that Altman’s comment is another attack on Anthropic, a startup founded by former OpenAI employees that positions its product as safer. Earlier, media reported that Anthropic co-founder Chris Olah discussed with clergy whether their chatbot Claude could acquire consciousness and how to embed moral guidelines into powerful autonomous systems.
Other tech companies, including Meta, Google, and Amazon, are also engaging in dialogue with religious leaders about artificial intelligence. Earlier, representatives of the tech giants discussed ethical issues and child protection with Pope Leo XIV in Rome. The head of the Catholic Church warned against excessive dependence on technology, emphasizing the need to preserve humanity and the ability to distinguish moral goodness among the "paradise of machines."
