A leading artificial intelligence executive warned Monday that tech companies should not be left alone to develop AI technology, calling for increased supervision from government officials, religious leaders and community organizations.
Chris Olah, who co-founded the AI company Anthropic, made these remarks during a Vatican ceremony where the pope presented his first official letter about artificial intelligence. Olah cautioned there exists “a real possibility” that artificial intelligence will replace human workers “at very large scale.”
“If that happens, supporting those displaced will be a moral imperative of historic proportions,” Olah stated while seated next to the pope during the Vatican event on Monday.
The tech executive explained that his company and others face significant business pressures, international competition and personal motivations that may not align with what benefits society as a whole.
“Every frontier AI lab … operates inside a set of incentives and constraints that can sometimes conflict with doing the right thing,” Olah noted, emphasizing that even researchers with good intentions remain subject to these influences.
According to Olah, these competing interests make independent oversight from outside the tech industry crucial for responsible AI development.
