Anti-'Terminator': AI not a 'creature' working toward self-awareness, OpenAI CEO Altman says

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman took questions from reporters following his congressional hearing and defined "scary AI." OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said people should not try to "anthropomorphize" artificial intelligence and should discuss the powerful tech systems in the context of it being a "tool" and not a "creature." "I think there's a huge amount of speculation on that question," Altman told reporters Tuesday on Capitol Hill when asked how quickly AI could become "self-aware" if Congress does not regulate the technology. The line of questioning had echoes of the "Terminator" film series, in which AI brings about the apocalypse on the day it becomes "self-aware." "I think it's very important that we keep talking about this as a tool, not a creature, because it's so tempting to anthropomorphize it," he added. "I totally understand where the anxiety comes from. I think it's the wrong frame … the wrong way to think about it."