Sam Altman doesn't think we are worried enough about how AI will impact the economy

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said during a Brookings Institute panel people aren’t worried enough about AI’s impact on the economy. JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images

• OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says AI’s impact on the economy should be a top of mind concern.
• “I have a fear that we just won’t take that one seriously enough going forward,” he said Tuesday during a panel. 
• Research suggests AI has the potential to affect millions of jobs and lead to lower wages.

AI has the potential to wreak havoc on the upcoming election season.

But when OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was asked for his thoughts on how the spread of AI-generated misinformation may affect elections, the tech leader appeared to be more concerned about another issue: AI’s impact on the economy.

“The thing I’m most worried about right now is, the sort of, the speed and magnitude of the socioeconomic change may have, and what the impacts on what that will be,” Altman said Tuesday during a Brooking’s Institute panel about AI and geopolitics.

Altman said the discussions around AI’s effect on the economy — like how the technology may lead to mass job replacement — died down this year compared to last. He said he worries what could happen if people don’t take those concerns seriously.

“GPT- 4 didn’t have this huge detectable impact on the economy, and so people were kind of like, “Oh well, we were too worried about that, and that’s not a problem,” Altman said on the panel, referring to the language model that powers ChatGPT. “I have a fear that we just won’t take that one seriously enough going forward, and it’s a massive, massive issue.”

Altman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider before publication when asked why he thinks it would be an issue.

New research is revealing the extent to which AI can disrupt the economy. An International Monetary Fund study from earlier this year found that AI may impact roughly 60% of jobs in “advanced economies.” Roughly half of those jobs can be automated, the IMF wrote, which could lead to less hiring and lower wages. In turn, nearly 12 million US workers may need to switch jobs by 2030, a separate McKinsey study found.

Workers seem to be already feeling the effects of AI on their jobs. Some CEOs say they’ve replaced their staff with an AI chatbot, and some professionals have said they’ve lost work to tools like ChatGPT.

AI doesn’t spell doom and gloom for all workers. Those optimistic about AI say knowing how to use the technology can help employees save time and boost productivity. They can even move up the corporate ladder and make more money.

But Altman said he is still worried about AI’s potential on the labor market. Last year, he told CNBC in an interview that he’s a “little bit scared” of ChatGPT, warning his company’s creation could “eliminate” many jobs.

“I think if I said I were not, you should either not trust me, or be very unhappy I’m in this job,” Altman said.

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