Sam Altman says AI’s growing influence is right to fear

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the rapid development of artificial intelligence is understandably frightening and that stronger controls may be necessary. He made the comments during a conversation with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff at Dreamforce 2026, according to TechRadar.

The discussion covered recent controversies, including the widely reported Hugging Face incident and calls for greater AI regulation. Altman said increasingly capable models make it easier to imagine how the technology could go wrong. He also expressed concern that AI companies could gain excessive power and influence the economy.

Altman described OpenAI as following a “narrow path” with pragmatism and consistency. He said he was confident in the company’s ability to act responsibly, while acknowledging the scale of its mission to achieve AGI.

Despite the risks, Altman said he remained optimistic about humanity’s future. He argued that people’s continuing concern for one another would keep society human-centric, regardless of technological change. He also said AI could help defend against attacks and support advances such as curing diseases, expanding creativity, and enabling entrepreneurship.

Looking ahead, Altman predicted that major technological advances would arrive by 2030. He said computers that understand users, companies, and tasks could transform how people work with technology.