'AI will also present new threats to society' Sam Altman issues stark
warning as $1 billion plan is revealed

Date:
Wed, 25 Mar 2026 13:50:13 +0000

Description:
Sam Altman says AI could help cure diseases but warns it will also create serious new threats that no single company can control.

FULL STORY
Today, Sam Altman announced that the OpenAI Foundation,
its non-profit arm , will spend at least $1 billion over the next year on discovering cures for disease.

But alongside that announcement came a stark warning about the new threats AI could introduce and the fact that no single company can deal with them alone. "AI will help discover new science, such as cures for diseases, which is perhaps the most important way to increase quality of life long-term," Altman wrote in a post on X .

He continued: "AI will also present new threats to society that we have to address. No company can sufficiently mitigate these on their own; we will
need a society-wide response to things like novel bio threats, a massive and fast change to the economy, extremely capable models causing complex emergent effects across society, and more."

While he remained vague on what those complex emergent effects might look
like, concerns about advanced AI systems are not new. Recently, science communicator Neil deGrasse Tyson even suggested that forms of AI development leading to superintelligence are too lethal to pursue without limits.

What stands out most here is Altmans admission that no company can
handle this alone. That feels different to his usual messaging around AI progress and feels like a warning.

Altman has often spoken and written about society needing to adapt to AI. But this goes further. It suggests the risks may be too large, too fast-moving,
and too unpredictable for even OpenAI to manage on its own.

With that phrasing, Altman is reframing the issue of AI safety from a tech problem into a societal one.

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While OpenAI now operates with a for-profit structure, the OpenAI Foundation continues to focus on long-term societal impact. Its stated mission is to ensure artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity. That's where the money is going.

According to the Foundation, it expects to invest at least $1 billion over
the next year across: life sciences and curing diseases, jobs and economic impact, AI resilience and community programs

This forms part of a broader $25 billion long-term commitment.

In healthcare, the initial focus includes Alzheimers research, public health data, and accelerating progress on high-burden diseases.

On the economic side, the Foundation says it is already working with small business owners, unions, and policymakers to explore how AI will reshape jobs and how to respond to the changing landscape.

AI resilience -- AI resilience is
one of the most revealing, and potentially unsettling, priorities of the
OpenAI Foundation this year.

It includes biosecurity, with OpenAI aiming to strengthen how society
prepares for potential biological threats both naturally occurring and AI-enabled outbreaks.

That phrase "AI-enabled outbreaks" is mildly concerning. It lines up directly with Altmans warning about novel biothreats, and hints at a future where AI doesnt just accelerate progress, but also lowers the barrier to dangerous capabilities.

Spending $1 billion on AI safety and medical progress is, on paper, a
positive step. But what makes this announcement interesting is the tension at its core. Altman is talking about curing diseases and improving quality of
life while also warning that the same technology could introduce risks we
dont yet fully understand.

That raises a bigger question: if even the companies building AI are saying they cant control whats coming next, who can?

Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/ai-platforms-assistants/openai/ai-will-also-present- new-threats-to-society-sam-altman-issues-stark-warning-as-usd1-billion-plan-is -revealed

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