“World Is Right To Be Afraid”: Sam Altman Warns Of AI Power Concentration

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has warned that the world is right to fear excessive concentration of power among companies developing advanced AI. Speaking at Salesforce’s Dreamforce conference in San Francisco, Altman said powerful AI companies could potentially exert undue influence over the economy or push a particular worldview. He also stressed that AI development must be paced so that safety, alignment and monitoring stay ahead of capabilities. Meanwhile, OpenAI is backing bipartisan US legislation aimed at addressing AI-related biological risks and supporting independent safety evaluation of frontier models. The remarks come amid a wider debate over AI safety, regulation and how quickly frontier systems should advance.