Sam Altman: Regulate Me! (But My Team Donates to the Other Side)

Okay, so. Sam Altman sat down with Vanity Fair for Part 2 of a big interview, and it is a masterclass in saying one thing while your team does another.

The OpenAI CEO is pushing his new product, Dots. He called it an AI helper that "always has your back," and he said he likes it more than anything the company has ever launched. It reads your email, does your boring tasks, and even chats with you in Slack. Altman told Vanity Fair that his dot proactively talked to three people on his team while he was away. Cool, right?

But the real tea is about regulation. Altman told Vanity Fair we need "a pragmatic middle path" on AI safety. He said the government needs to step up. He even delayed the latest ChatGPT model, Astra 6.1, because it didn't meet safety standards. He said the models are so capable now that the bar for safety has to go higher.

Then there is the other side. Vanity Fair noted that OpenAI president Greg Brockman backed out of a $25 million commitment to a super PAC that opposes strong AI regulation. Brockman and his wife had already donated $25 million to President Trump's reelection campaign. When asked if he asked Brockman to withdraw, Altman said he did not. He said Brockman can make his own personal decisions.

Reported by Vanity Fair: The interview also covered the recent state dinner with President Trump and China's Xi Jinping. Altman attended but said the dinner was nice, and he didn't hear substantive AI talk. Trump gave a tour of a ballroom that Altman described as a "construction site."

Altman told Vanity Fair he wants to be remembered like Prometheus — giving AI fire to everyone, not keeping it for a "small priesthood." But with his own president donating to anti-regulation causes, it looks like the fire might come with some very expensive strings attached.

• AI regulation
• Dots
• Greg Brockman
• OpenAI
• Sam Altman
• Vanity Fair