OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said he worries artificial intelligence could one day be controlled by a small number of companies, models, or individuals, leaving most consumers without a voice in how the technology shapes the world. According to ChainCatcher, he said the right approach is to keep people firmly in control of the future, with society and models evolving together.

Altman also said he worries about AI escaping human control. He added that excessive fear of that risk could create the first scenario, with some people arguing for giving up significant freedom in exchange for safety. The article said he may have been referring to Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who has repeatedly warned about AI risks and called for stronger government regulation.

Anthropic is the only major AI company that did not sign a public letter supporting open-weight models. Although OpenAI has not open-sourced frontier models, it released the open-weight models gpt-oss-120b and gpt-oss-20b last year. Altman also said U.S. AI leaders have not done enough to show the public how the technology can improve personal autonomy, and he expects the largest startup boom yet as AI enables more people to launch small businesses.