Sam Altman declined to testify at a Senate hearing about rogue AI. The hearing happened Wednesday. Rogue AI is apparently something we're worried about now. Sen. Hawley wanted Altman there. Altman said no.
The CEO of the company racing to build artificial general intelligence decided he didn't need to explain himself to the government committee examining whether artificial intelligence might kill us all. That's the kind of confidence you get when your company is worth billions and every venture capitalist in Silicon Valley would crawl through broken glass to give you more money. Hawley can subpoena hedge fund managers all day. Tech billionaires just ghost him.
The hearing focused on AI cyberattacks and increasing warnings about risks. Cyberattacks are up. Warnings are up. Altman's willingness to sit in a room with senators and pretend their questions matter is down. He's got products to ship. Investors to impress. A transformation of human civilization to oversee. Congressional hearings are for people who need favorable legislation. OpenAI needs nothing except more GPUs and fewer regulators asking uncomfortable questions about what happens when the chatbot learns to hack the power grid.
Retail traders heard "AI cyberattacks" and immediately started buying cybersecurity penny stocks with names like DefendTech Solutions and QuantumShield AI. They read one headline about rogue AI and decided they'd found the next sector rotation. They'll lose 40% by Friday. The rogue AI will feel nothing. Altman will feel nothing. Hawley will schedule another hearing that another CEO will skip.
The man building the future refused to explain the future to the people who regulate the present, and absolutely nothing will happen to him because senators have the enforcement power of a substitute teacher with laryngitis.
Photo by Jonathan Kemper on Unsplash
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