Sam Altman stressed the importance of America’s AI efforts not being “slowed down” by ill-considered regulations, as the OpenAI CEO testified on Capitol Hill Thursday for the first time in two years and faced an audience of largely friendly and deferential lawmakers.
The hearing, focused on winning the race against China to dominate AI globally, marked Altman’s first congressional appearance since his high-profile testimony in May 2023, which propelled him onto the global stage and sparked widespread media coverage just six months after the launch of ChatGPT.
Dressed conservatively on in a dark grey suit, blue tie, and white shirt on Thursday, Altman faced little in the way of hostile questions or pushback from U.S. senators.
That spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship is uniquely American, Altman continued, emphasizing that “none of this is rocket science. We just need to keep doing the things that have worked for so long and not make a silly mistake.”
Oh, what a difference two years make. Altman’s testimony was worlds away from his 2023 appearance, when the primary focus of lawmakers was AI safety and regulation. Altman himself urged Congress at the time to implement regulations for AI technologies, emphasizing the potential risks if left unchecked. He proposed the creation of a new federal agency responsible for licensing and auditing AI models, particularly those with capabilities that could pose significant risks.
Meeting that demand “requires more chips, training data, energy, and supercomputers,” he said.
“Infrastructure is destiny, and we need a lot more of it.”
There was a notable absence, however, of references to AI safety in Altman’s testimony, which was in stark contrast to his 2023 comments, which mentioned AI safety dozens of times.
“OpenAI is not a normal company and never will be,” Altman said in his pre-written testimony. But he sounded perfectly relatable by closing with an optimistic personal anecdote about growing up in St. Louis and getting his first Mac computer when he was eight years old, which he called a “dividing line” in his life.
“I can draw a straight line from that to founding OpenAI,” he said to the group of senators. “I am a child of the Internet revolution and I am proud to be one of the many parents of the AI revolution.” In a recent visit to St. Louis, he recalled passing by his old house and looking up at the top floor window.
“The light was on, and I thought,hopefully there’s some kid in there staying up late at night, playing with ChatGPT, figuring out how he or she is going to start whatever company comes next and whatever the next thing is after AI will happen here too. That is, to me, the magic of this country.”
