OpenAI Chairman Says AI Is Destroying His Sense of Self

For being poised to become thethe richest startup in history, OpenAI's architects seem strikingly ambivalent about its work.

The company's CEO isconstantly afraidof the technology he is unleashing on the world, a long-standing investor has beendriven to what his peers say are signs of psychosis, and even its chairman is panicking about losing his identity to the machine.

Speaking on the podcast "AcquiredEarlier this week, the chair of OpenAI's board, Bret Taylor, expressed his anxiety that AI chatbots like ChatGPT are redefining his relationship to technology, destroying - or at least making unrecognizable - the world of programming in which he built his career.

The thing I self-identify with is just, like, being obviated by this technology,Taylor said in the interviewSo it's like, the reason why I think these tools are being embraced so quickly is that they really are like an Iron Man suit for all of us as individuals.

Although Taylor expressed some muted optimism about AI's effects on "productivity," his attitude toward the near future was decidedly troubled.

"You're going to have this period of transition where it's saying, like, 'How I've come to identify my own worth, either as a person or as an employee, has been disrupted.' That's very uncomfortable. And that transition isn't always easy," the chairman declared.

While it's nice to know thatmulti-millionairesLike Taylor has feelings too, we should probably take his fearmongering with a grain of salt.

For starters, GPT-5, the latest iteration of OpenAI's ultra-popular chatbot, isn't exactly taking humanity by storm. The model's long-awaited release went over like awet napkinwith users earlier this month, with software engineers and programmersparticularly annoyedat the "updated" version'scoding skillscompared to earlier iterations.

Scaremongering is also a tried-and-true sales tactic for OpenAI more broadly. CEO Sam Altman is a pioneer of this strategy, making comments about a theoretical superintelligence to intrigue investors while scaring lawmakers into compliance.

In March 2023, for example, Altman made an appearance on the "Lex Fridman Podcast" a popular interview show on technology and science. There, the CEO was evasive about the software product he had spent years developing.

I think it's weird when people think it's like a big dunk that I say, I'm a little bit afraid,Altman saidAnd I think it would be crazy not to be a little bit afraid, and I empathize with people who are very afraid.

That was mere weeks before OpenAI courted further$300 millionin funding from various sources, amidst anongoing campaignto ensure the company has a seat at any table discussing AI regulation. In May 2023, Altman appeared before anunusually friendlyUS Senate Committee to preach about theDangers of superintelligent AIand call for its swift regulation, a move tech policy experts warned was paving the way for OpenAI to weaponize government regulation for its own gain.

"It's such an irony seeing a posture about the concern of harms by people who are rapidly releasing, into commercial use, the system responsible for those very harms," said tech policy researcher Sarah Myers West.told the journalSafe AIat the time?

Those comments could very well apply to Taylor, who recently founded a$4.5 billion AI startupcalled Sierra. His startup's long-term survival basically depends on whether it can attract companies likeCasper SleeporADTinto outsourcing entire departments to the company - customer service, for example - essentially turning existing businesses intodependent clientsoff which to feed.

By ingratiating himself to the world, in other words, Taylor is not only buttering up future investors — but opening the door for yet another front of AI parasitism.

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