Sam Altman offers a Trojan Horse to American taxpayers
The government runs the risk of regulatory capture if it accepts the “gift” of a 5 per cent stake in OpenAI.
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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman (left) with US President Donald Trump at the G7 Summit in June. Altman has argued that giving the public a financial stake in his company is the best way to share the benefits of AI.
PHOTO: AFP
Gautam Mukunda
Sam Altman just offered the US – meaning every American – US$42.6 billion (S$55 billion). (Not each, sadly). He said giving the government a 5 per cent stake in the company he runs, OpenAI, is the best way to ensure that Americans share in the promised bounty from artificial intelligence.
Before the Trump administration takes him up on the offer, it should organise a group trip to see Christopher Nolan’s new movie The Odyssey, whose opening act is the most famous gift in Western literature: a giant wooden horse, wheeled through the gates of Troy by the people it destroyed. The lesson translates. Beware of CEOs bearing gifts.
