Sam Altman Says AI Could End Up Controlled by a Few Powerful Players as People Trade Liberty for Safety

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman warned that AI could end up concentrated among a small number of powerful companies, partly because AI-safety fears may push society to trade 'a lot of liberty for safety,' according to Business Insider. Altman framed the moment as a choice between 'AI authoritarianism or liberty' and cautioned that historically such trade-offs have been long-term net losses — a notable stance given OpenAI operates almost entirely closed-weight models.