OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the rapid development and adoption of artificial intelligence has not led to a global job apocalypse. He said the technology has not taken away as many white-collar jobs as he initially expected.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the rapid development and adoption of artificial intelligence has not led to a global job apocalypse. He said the technology has not taken away as many white-collar jobs as he initially expected.
According to Reuters, Altman made the remarks during a virtual speech at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia conference in Sydney. The OpenAI CEO admitted that he had previously been seriously concerned about the possible impact of AI on global employment.
Altman noted that he and his leadership team were right about the technological predictions OpenAI made when ChatGPT launched in 2022. However, he acknowledged that they were “pretty much wrong” about the social and economic implications of implementing the technology in the near term.
According to him, one factor limiting AI's ability to fully replace workers is the need for human interaction in many professions.
Altman's statement came amid a global debate about the impact of AI on the labor market. In particular, Pope Leo XIV recently issued his first encyclical on artificial intelligence, in which he called the possible mass unemployment due to automation a "true social disaster." The pontiff called on governments and companies to prepare in advance for the changes and implement measures to retrain and protect workers.
