ChatGPT maker OpenAI is staying private so it can make ‘strange’ decisions

OpenAI chief executive officer Sam Altman said he’s not interested in taking the artificial intelligence (AI) startup public because he wants to maintain full control over the technology as it becomes more powerful.

“When we develop super intelligence, we’re likely to make some decisions that public market investors would view very strangely,” Altman said at an event in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.

“I like being non-conflicted,” he added when asked about his own lack of equity in the company, “and I think the chance that we have to make a very strange decision someday is non-trivial.”

Altman also emphasised his willingness to work with regulators to develop frameworks to reduce potential harm from AI.

Abu Dhabi is the latest stop in a weeks-long world tour that’s taking Altman across Europe, the Middle East and Asia, meeting lawmakers and officials who are beginning to create rules to govern AI technologies. His comments at public events along the way have been closely scrutinised.

Before coming to Europe, Altman spoke in Washington where he called for more regulation and said his “greatest fear” was that the technology would cause significant harm.

Read: Abu Dhabi University to regulate use of ChatGPT in education

Also read: OpenAI raises $175m for startup investment fund