Link: https://www.politico.com/news/2026/10/05/sam-altman-ai-industry-political-spending-01106527

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman admits “something’s clearly not working” with the artificial intelligence money that has flooded the midterm elections — and he doesn’t expect President Donald Trump’s rebrand of the technology to improve his industry’s image with the American public, either.

“I get why AI has a really negative perception right now,” Altman told Brendan Bordelon in an exclusive interview marking the launch of Decoded by POLITICO. “I don’t think spending money on politics is what’s going to make people feel better about it. The industry needs to figure out a way to address what the actual concerns are, and right now, a lot of people in the industry are being quite tone deaf.”

In the wide-ranging conversation, Altman offered a window into how OpenAI is confronting new political pressures and intensified competition with Anthropic, its corporate archrival run by former employee Dario Amodei.

Altman says OpenAI is more tolerant than Anthropic of less-than-catastrophic harms from AI, drawing out what he sees as a fundamental split in worldview between the two leading labs even as they converge on tougher rules in the wake of high-profile autonomous hacking incidents.

“We believe that the world should accept some bad things happening for the benefits of this technology and people having the agency,” said Altman, who characterized those harms as linked to “the lighter touch regulatory stance that we advocate for.”

Emphasis above is mine. This guy needs to be stopped.

God what an absolute fucking weasel.

(With apologies to mustelids.)

The mustelids I know are all really nice, thank you.

WELL WELL WELL if it isn't the consequences of AI bros' own actions. Oh I hope the crash is going to get really damn ugly.

So did he sexually assault his sister? She seems to think so.

He's clearly from the "bad things have to happen now, because I'm claiming they'll lead to better things later" - which is the premise of every scam.

The Nigerian prince needs a fraction of his fortune now, so good things can happen later. Multi-level marketing only needs your initial sign up fee paid now, so you can be locked into ongoing costs later. Three card monty and heroin only need you to try your first taste so you can chase the horrible outcomes later.

That's a really good way of looking at it. Like when a phishing email tells you to pay this now or you account will be terminated or that America needs to invest in AI or they'll lose some imaginary race as if there's some finish line.

Or someone claiming short term pain for long term gain except the only one gaining is themselves in the end

I will gladly pay you on Tuesday for a hamburger today!

I'd like it to get ugly for them, but unfortunately it's more likely to get ugly for us (bailouts).

I think Sam taking his ken doll husband that he met at a Thiel rape party and jumping off the Golden Gate would make people feel a lot better.

Not just likely, guaranteed. People that cheer on the bubble popping are like

https://youtu.be/7eYcWpgCb7o

But even worse. Because they aren't the ones shorting. They are the ones in the statistics.

He is just mad that he now has to rename his company to OpenSI according to the presidential executive order he participated in recently.

fascism is the threat

So he is diappointed that the government he paid for is reluctant to alienate 90% of their voters.

Altman calling anybody else tone deaf has to be peak human hypocrisy. And ditto irony.