What keeps OpenAI CEO Sam Altman up at night? AI misuse, not terminators

When it comes to the future of artificial intelligence, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman isn’t worried about killer robots. Instead, his biggest fear is people using AI to do harm.

In his podcast appearance with Theo Von, Altman was asked directly what concerned him most about AI. “I worry more about people using AI to do bad things than the AI deciding to do bad things on its own,” he replied.

For Altman, the problem lies not in the machines themselves, but in the motivations of those who wield them. “The risk is if someone really wants to cause harm and they have a very powerful tool to do it,” he explained.

This human-centric fear stands in contrast to more dystopian narratives often associated with AI. Rather than rogue systems going off-script, Altman sees the real threat in deliberate misuse, particularly when powerful tools are easily accessible.

He also spoke about the complex challenge of building safeguards into OpenAI’s products. “We’re trying to build guardrails as we go. That’s hard, but necessary,” Altman said.

These comments reflect OpenAI’s evolving approach to governance and deployment, as the company faces growing scrutiny from regulators and the public alike. With GPT-5 potentially around the corner, the stakes have never been higher.