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“It’s really important to engage society, to not operate in a black box and to not let people feel like a handful of people are in control of the future,” Chesky said in an interview with NBC News’ Lester Holt on Thursday at the Aspen Ideas Festival, where Altman joined Chesky for an interview.
Artificial intelligence has entered the mainstream since the public release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in 2022. As companies raced to implement advanced large-scale language models and reap the benefits, the public and ethicists worried about the societal impacts of leaving the technology unchecked.
Will AI take away people’s jobs? Will it interfere with elections? Worst of all, could AI destroy humanity?
Speaking at the Aspen Ideas Festival, both tech leaders stressed the importance of involving society at large in discussions of AI development to allay such concerns.
“If everyone here feels like they can participate and have a say, I don’t think we have much to fear,” Chesky said. “What we should be afraid of is what we don’t understand, [we’re] Being left behind, having something we can’t control slip away from us. That’s a future we don’t want to live in.”
Altman also emphasized the need to get “societal feedback.”
“We need to learn how to make safe technology,” he said. “We need to figure out how to make safe products, and that includes an ongoing dialogue with society.”
Just seven months ago, Altman was briefly removed from his role as CEO of OpenAI, only to later return with a new executive team. Several former executives accused him of lying to colleagues and creating a toxic culture through “emotional abuse.”
“Sam failed to tell the board that he had ownership of OpenAI’s startup fund, even though he always maintained that he was an independent director with no financial interest in the company,” former OpenAI director Helen Toner said in an interview in May.
Last month, several OpenAI executives announced they were leaving the company, including Jan Reicke, who had led the company’s now-disbanded safety group. Reicke joined a chorus of OpenAI critics who have questioned the company’s approach to safety in the pursuit of artificial intelligence that exceeds human capabilities, or artificial general intelligence.
An OpenAI spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Airbnb CEO Chesky was optimistic about the impact AI will have on the future.
While artists have warned that AI could devalue creative work, Chesky, who graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design, sees the technology as “an amazing tool for artists.” While researchers worry that AI will exacerbate the loneliness epidemic, Chesky believes it “can help bring people together.”
“At the end of the day, it’s not the technology that matters, it’s the people who own the technology,” Chesky said of the people building with AI. “It comes down to people, their values, and ‘are they good people?'”