Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI and the driving force behind ChatGPT, has issued a grave warning about the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence, predicting that “some really bad stuff” will happen in the near future.
Speaking on a recent podcast, Altman expressed growing concern over the unintended consequences of advanced AI systems, particularly the rise of AI-generated deepfakes. His comments come in the wake of OpenAI’s release of Sora 2, a powerful text-to-video generator that has already been misused to create hyper-realistic but false videos of public figures and extremist propaganda.
Within days of its launch, Sora 2 demonstrated both the promise and peril of generative AI. While users praised its creative capabilities, others exploited it to produce misleading and harmful content — from fake news clips to Holocaust-denial videos. Altman acknowledged the societal threat this poses, warning that deepfakes could erode public trust in visual media, making it nearly impossible to distinguish fact from fabrication.
Despite these dangers, Altman defended the decision to release the technology publicly. He argued that AI and humanity must “co-evolve,” stating that early exposure to such tools allows society to build safeguards and social norms before the systems become too advanced to control.
Beyond the issue of deepfakes, Altman warned about societal-scale risks, describing a world where “billions of people talking to the same brain” — referring to AI systems like ChatGPT — could trigger unpredictable shifts in politics, information, and public opinion. These effects, he suggested, could happen faster than governments or institutions can adapt.
While advocating for rigorous safety testing of future, “superhuman” AI models, Altman cautioned against excessive government regulation at this stage. Instead, he called for collective responsibility and ethical maturity within society to guide AI’s development.
His warning underscores a growing tension between innovation and safety — as artificial intelligence continues to redefine communication, creativity, and truth itself.
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