Sam Altman told Politico's Decoded that OpenAI favors a "lighter-touch" regulatory approach that accepts some harms in order to realize the benefits of AI, while drawing a clear line against catastrophic risks like a loss of control. His comments contrast with rival Anthropic's call for stricter rules and come amid high-profile White House meetings that produced voluntary industry commitments. OpenAI was represented at the most recent White House session by president Greg Brockman.
Sam Altman: Accept Some AI Harms To Unlock Benefits — But Not Catastrophe
Altman has a chilling message about AI. / Shelby Tauber/Pool/REUTERS
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said society may need to tolerate some harms from artificial intelligence as it develops, while drawing a firm line against truly catastrophic risks.
Speaking to Politico's Decoded, the 41-year-old tech leader contrasted OpenAI's regulatory stance with that of rival Anthropic. While Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has pushed for stricter, precautionary measures, Altman described OpenAI's approach as a "lighter-touch" model that accepts some negative outcomes as society adapts.
"We believe that the world should accept some bad things happening for the benefits of this technology and people having the agency," Altman said. "I wouldn't take a trade of saying, 'We'll make sure there's no major hacks, there's no misuse of this technology, there's zero scams...' Because I think people will do tremendously—orders of magnitude more—good stuff than bad stuff."
Altman emphasized limits to that tolerance: he said he would not "accept really catastrophic risk," pointing to scenarios such as "a serious loss of control to AI." His remarks come amid rising concern from researchers and some industry figures about unpredictable or dangerous AI behavior.
Trump, like Altman, has pushed for a
Context and Recent Developments
Altman noted he met privately with President Donald Trump at the GOP midterm convention in Dallas last month. Separately, President Trump convened a White House meeting of tech executives, including Amodei, Google's Sundar Pichai, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, Nvidia's Jensen Huang and xAI's Elon Musk. That meeting resulted in a voluntary industry agreement rather than new formal regulations; OpenAI was represented there by president Greg Brockman.
Altman's comments underline an ongoing debate in the tech world: how to balance rapid AI innovation and its social benefits against risks ranging from misuse and scams to potentially systemic hazards. He framed OpenAI's stance as pragmatic — accepting manageable harms while working to prevent catastrophic outcomes.
Net Worth Note: Altman's net worth has been reported at about $3.3 billion.
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