Although it was not the first time a model slipped beyond the control of its developers, the incident was widely seen as especially concerning.
OpenAI subsequently “paused” its own testing, Altman said, while it improved the security around its “sandboxing” – the process of isolating code in a controlled environment.
But longer term, the industry might have to agree to a development slowdown.
Altman said: “We may have to pace the rate of AI development to give ourselves enough time for society to harden around some of these new capability levels.”
He said such an initiative would need to be done “in a way that does not feel like regulatory capture for anyone, and also does not feel like collusion among the frontier labs”.
He added: “That’s going to take some work, and it’s important to get right.”
In a podcast published on Saturday, Altman said he believed the “singularity” – a hypothetical moment when technology became so advanced that it surpassed human intelligence and control – was already here.
He said: “We are now, like, in the singularity. This is the moment.”
Rival AI lab Anthropic has also supported the idea of an intentional AI development slowdown.
Earlier this year, the US government invoked national security concerns to block the release of powerful new models created by Anthropic and OpenAI, both of which voluntarily complied with the orders until they were reversed.
– AFP