# 'You Should Not Trust Me!' OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Warns IIT Delhi Students On AI, Career Risks Ahead

*TOI Bharat* · https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1mP2y1vDMM

## Summary

In a talk at IIT Delhi, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman tells students not to trust him or older generations to predict how fast the world will change, and warns that traditional career advice may no longer work. He discusses AI's impact on jobs, saying no one really knows what will happen, that some jobs will disappear while many will persist, and that new jobs will emerge faster and stranger than expected. He acknowledges the transition will be painful for many people but is less worried about the long term.

## Key points

- Altman says the biggest mistake young people make is listening to old people when preparing for AI.
- He argues no one, including OpenAI, really knows how AI will affect jobs, and there will be many surprises.
- He says anyone who is only excited or only fearful about AI is not being thoughtful; everyone sits somewhere on a continuum.
- Some jobs will totally go away, but many will change less than expected because humans still want other humans involved, like doctors.
- He says history shows we consistently underestimate how quickly new and different jobs appear after major technological shifts.
- He expects the transition to be very painful for many people and hopes new socioeconomic models ease it.
- He believes many students will eventually do jobs that don't exist today even as a concept.
- He advises students to quickly develop their own intuitions and trust them.

## Notes

### On Trusting Older Generations
- Altman says the biggest mistake young people make when preparing for AI is "listening to old people."
- He distinguishes between parents' advice on living a happy life or being a good person, which he says is worth heeding, and their ability to predict how the world will change, which he says is not.
- He tells students, "I don't think you should trust me for having good intuition of the rate of change."
- Young people always figure things out the best, and the world they are inheriting will be very different, so they must quickly develop their own intuitions and trust them.
- He believes traditional career advice is probably not going to work as well going forward.

### On Fear and Excitement About AI
- Altman says anyone who is only excited or only fearful about AI is "not being thoughtful."
- He rejects the idea of two camps, describing instead a continuum between 90% excited and 10% fearful, or the reverse.
- Given the magnitude, speed, promise and "obvious peril" of the change, everyone has to sit somewhere on that spectrum, not at either end.

### On Jobs and the Future of Work
- He caveats everything by saying no one really knows what will happen, including OpenAI, and there will be many surprises.
- Some jobs will totally go away; many will change less than expected because people still want humans involved, such as wanting a human doctor even if AI gives better advice.
- Entrepreneurs will still start companies, but they will grow faster, do more, and be more disruptive to existing jobs.
- Every major technological shift in history has led us to underestimate how quickly new jobs appear and how different they are; his own job would be hard to imagine before computers.
- Some of today's best jobs didn't exist as a category 20 years ago.

### On Long-Term Optimism and a Painful Transition
- He imagines that in 100 years people may look at jobs the way someone from 500 years ago would view his job: not real work, an almost game-like existence.
- Society never runs out of things to do; people find new ways to be creative, useful to each other, and gain status.
- Many students will do jobs that don't exist today even as a concept.
- The transition will be very painful for many people, and he hopes society finds new socioeconomic models to make it less painful, but he is less worried about the long-term future.

## Transcript

[00:00] for a predictor of what the world is going to be like going forward. Um I don't think you should trust me for having good intuition of the rate of change. Um it young people always figure this out the best and the world you are all inheriting is going to be very different and you'll have to quickly develop your own intuitions and trust them. Um but I think the traditional career advice is probably not going to work as well >> and computing. My question is what do you say to the workers who fear that their jobs will be outdated in next 5 years and what skills should they be focusing on? Now >> anyone who says they're only excited or only fearful about AI is I think not being very thoughtful. I don't think

[00:47] it's two camps. I think there's a continuum of people based on whether you're 90% excited and 10% fearful or 90% fearful and 10% excited. But as with any change of this magnitude happening this quickly, um, and with this much unknown, this much promise, this much obvious peril, um, it's it you you have to be somewhere on that spectrum. You can't it can't be sort of at at either end. Um, a big part of that is what the impact on jobs is going to be. And I will caveat this with lots of other things by AI by saying that no one really knows, including us. There will be many surprises. Um, some jobs will totally go away. Many jobs will not change as much as it seems like they should with AI because we have, you

[01:40] know, we want someone else to be doing that. we still go want a human doctor to tell us things even if the we know the egg gives better advice or any many other set of examples uh or you know entrepreneurs will still start companies they'll just grow faster and they'll do more and it'll be more disruptive to existing jobs and then most of all every time in history that there's been a major technological shift we have underestimated how quickly the new jobs are going to come and how different they were going to be it'd be very hard to think about my job for example before computers were invented um and impossible to think about my job before say the industrial revolution. Um, there are jobs now that

[02:26] are incredibly good jobs that didn't exist as a category 20 years ago even. If someone from 500 years ago could look at the jobs of the world today, um, generally speaking, they would say about many of the jobs, um, certainly my job, you know, death's not a real job. You're doing fine. You could, you don't have to be working. You're like, you've got plenty of food. you've got access to great shelter. Like this is this is not a job they could have imagined and it wouldn't look like real work. I hope 100 years from now, not even 500, we would all look at the jobs and be like, "Those people are impossibly rich. They have everything they could ever want. They are making up ways to spend their time to entertain themselves. It's a,

[03:13] you know, it's a player of game style existence. They don't really need this." Um, and that is sort of the history of society building up more collective welfare for each other. Uh, and I think that's great, but we never run out of things to do. We have never gotten to the sort of like thing that people have theorized for for centuries now, which is technology is going to progress so much that we just sit around and do nothing. We find new things to do. We find new ways to express our creativity. Um, we find new ways to be useful to each other. you find new ways to, you know, gain status or whatever, whatever it is. Uh, many of you will eventually do jobs that don't exist today, even really as a

[03:56] concept. It doesn't mean that the transition is not painful. I expect for many people it will be very painful. Um, as society gets richer quickly, I hope we find new socioeconomic models to make it less painful. But I'm less worried about the long-term future. And I think we'll find new things to do in in not very long. >> So my question is, what is the biggest mistake you see young people make right now when they apparently prepare for AI? >> Man, I'm going to answer this. I hope this talk is not recorded. Uh, I think listening to old people is the biggest mistake young people make. I >> I think your your parents obviously love you more than anyone. They're extremely well-meaning. um for advice about how to live a happy

[04:47] life or how to be a a good person, there is no one you should listen to more than your parents. Um but for a predictor of what the world is going to be like going forward, um I don't think you should trust me for having good intuition of the rate of change. Um it young people always figure this out the best and the world you are all inheriting is going to be very different and you'll have to quickly develop your own intuitions and trust them. Um but I think the traditional career advice is probably not going to work as well. [music]

[05:34] >> [music]