OpenAI CEO urges trust in AI firms as regulators lag behind

OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman told attendees at a Salesforce-hosted conference in San Francisco that the rapid advancement of artificial-intelligence tools justifies public apprehension, yet the industry should be trusted to act responsibly. > "The world should trust that we are going to do the right thing because it's the right thing and we feel the magnitude of this," Altman said, adding that the world is "right to be afraid" of potential risks.

Altman noted that Congress has yet to establish a basic regulatory framework for advanced AI, a gap he said hampers effective oversight without slowing innovation. He suggested that if AI firms cannot keep safety and alignment ahead of capability growth, they would need to pause or halt development.

The remarks came as political figures expressed divergent views. Senator Bernie Sanders warned that AI decisions are dominated by a small group of wealthy individuals, while former White House adviser Steve Bannon argued the public cannot rely on tech leaders to self-regulate. President Donald Trump dismissed safety concerns as a "hoax" and said only a "strong and smart" president could provide necessary guardrails.

Industry leaders offered mixed messages. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said every AI lab has both the incentive and liability to prioritize safety, and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang argued that new laws are unnecessary, framing safety as an engineering problem that companies can manage internally. Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei called for a slower pace of development and for governments to step in, a stance supported by OpenAI’s Chris Lehane, who said the company is working with other labs on voluntary safety standards.

Critics, including Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark and Logical Intelligence COO Patrick Hillman, warned that leaving AI entirely unregulated amounts to "rolling dice with immense risks" and expressed low public trust in Silicon Valley compared with government institutions. The debate continues as Congress returns from recess with no imminent legislation, and the upcoming election cycle adds further uncertainty to the regulatory outlook.