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As CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman wants to make history by developing the worlds first artificial general intelligence, or AGIa machine powerful enough to think and reason like a human. But some are starting to worry whether he can be trusted not to accidentally create an AI overlord that views humans as a lower life form.

Speaking this weekend at the Aspen Ideas Festival, media tycoon Ari Emanuel recalled a conversation he had with Elon Musk, a former director of his billion-dollar entertainment company, Endeavor.

The anecdote highlighted the awesome stakes involved as companies race to build ever-smarter neural networks.

Elon said to me oncethis scared mehe said: You know, Ari, your relationship with your dogs? Think about it the following way: Youre the dog to the AI, Emanuel told the audience. I dont want to be a dog.

AI experts such as Geoffrey Hinton fear Silicon Valley executives wont stop at just AGI: Mankind could ultimately create an artificial superintelligence (ASI).

This ASI would not just mimic human learning processes like current transformer-based neural networks such as OpenAIs GPT-4, but could potentially gain self-awareness in the processrelegating humanity to the second-most advanced species on earth.

With so much riding on Altmans ability to make the responsible decision, Emanuel fears past behavior suggests he cant be trusted to properly develop groundbreaking technologyespecially given a growing chorus of critics.

I think hes a con man, said Emanuel. Elon gave him a lot of moneyit was supposed to be a nonprofit, now hes making a lot of money. I dont know why I would trust him. I dont know why we would trust these people. (According to legal filings, Musk contributed more than $44 million into OpenAI between 2016 and September 2020.)

Emanuel said Altman has not done enough to prove the technology doesnt pose a long-term threat to society, especially since the latter seems to prioritize commercialization over safety.

Youre telling me youve done the calculation, and the good outweighs the bad, said Emanuel, whose media business could be hurt by generative AI such as OpenAIs Sora. Really? I dont think so.

OpenAI did not respond to a request fromFortunefor comment.

For his part Altman, who has in the past stated offering equity was necessary in part to attract and retain talent, himself said a year ago that people should not place their trust in any one AI company or CEO without evidence that trust is deserved.

The OpenAI bosswho is worth $2 billion according to Bloombergsurvived aboardroom mutinyin November thanks in part to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, and returned more powerful than everwith three of the four former plotters against him leaving the company.

One of those former directors, Helen Toner, in Mayjustified the coupby citing a pattern of dishonest behavior, saying Altman would withhold information, misrepresent things, and sometimes even outright lie to the board.

At the same time, scientists at OpenAI such as Jan Leikeleft the companyafter accusing Altman ofbreaking a key promiseto fund his research. Leike and chief scientistIlya Sutskeverwere supposed to design safety protocols robust enough to ensure AI cannot ever gain the upper hand over humans.

Altman himself is now mingling his commercial responsibility as CEO with anew roleheading up AI safety at the companyraising eyebrows from a governance perspective.

Twitter founder Jack Dorsey has alsosounded the alarm, warning the damage done to human behavior by the very engagement-focused algorithms he himself helped to create could pale when compared with artificial intelligence.

All of this has given Emanuel pause about the AI future.

I dont want to stifle innovation, because I do think we need AI, but we have to have the rails around it, Emanuel said in Aspen this weekend, where Altman was also speaking. What is society going to be like in that world when theres no purpose?

The younger brother of Rahm Emanuelformer chief of staff to President Barack ObamaAri Emanuel is often referred to as a Hollywood super agent having represented stars like Martin Scorsese, but hes an entrepreneur in every sense of the word.

In 1995, the senior partner at talent reps International Creative Management founded Endeavor Agency, transforming it into a fully-fledged media and entertainment empire that went public on the stock exchange in April 2021.

Among his close friends and business associates he counts Hollywood star Dwayne The Rock Johnson, UFC boss Dana White, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who briefly served as a director on Endeavors board.

Emanuelplayed hostto the powerful tycoon in Greece, when unflattering pictures of Musk emerged next to a leaner Emanuel. The images prompted so much online ridicule that Musk reportedly began taking Wegovy just tolose the fat.

Altman and Musk, on the other hand, are far from cozy. Despite cochairing OpenAI at its inception in 2015, Musk departed the organization in 2018. Since then a war of wordsand productshas ensued, with the Tesla CEO attempting to sue OpenAI earlier this year.

Emanuel is widely lauded by his Hollywood peers: Theres no CEO in the world like this guy, the Rock said of Emanuel inJanuary.

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Hollywood tycoon Ari Emanuel blasts OpenAI's Sam Altman, fearing the future after Elon Musk tells him he'll become 'a ... - Fortune