Sam Altman says attributing religious force to AI is a safety issue as Anthropic engages religious leaders.
ai-safety anthropic openai
| Source: Techmeme | Original article
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says he is very uncomfortable with attributing religious force to AI, calling it a real safety issue, as Anthropic engages with religious leaders.
OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman used his X account on Saturday to warn that treating artificial‑intelligence systems as if they possessed religious authority is “a real safety issue.” In a brief post he said he is “very uncomfortable” with anyone trying to “ascribe religious force or a surrender of human judgment to AI models.” While he did not name a competitor, the timing aligns with Anthropic’s recent outreach to religious leaders to discuss the “soul of AI,” a move that has drawn criticism from Altman’s camp.
The comment sharpens an emerging split between the two leading AI firms. As we reported on Oct 5, OpenAI and Anthropic already hold fundamentally different views on AI regulation, with Anthropic’s founder Dario Amodei pursuing scholarly and faith‑based dialogues that OpenAI’s leadership sees as risky. Altman’s latest remark frames the debate not just as a strategic rivalry but as a safety concern: if users begin to defer moral judgment to models, the line between tool and deity could blur, potentially undermining accountability and oversight.
Industry observers will be watching for an official response from Anthropic and any clarification of its engagement with religious scholars. The episode may also prompt broader discussions among policymakers, ethicists and faith groups about how AI should be presented to the public. If the narrative of AI as a quasi‑spiritual entity gains traction, regulators could feel pressure to codify limits on anthropomorphising or “god‑like” language in AI marketing and research. The next weeks are likely to see heightened dialogue on the intersection of technology, belief and safety.
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