Editor's note: This article is an English translation of the original Chinese column titled “AGI政治家”奥特曼？ by Haiwei Guo posted on PingWest Chinese site.
Sam Altman, the founder of OpenAI, may have taken part in a historically unprecedented commercial political campaign over the last four weeks.
He has visited all of the main northern hemisphere nations and has participated in the Beijing BAAI Conference through video link.
In Altman's own words, he hopes that this international travel will introduce him to more developers. While doing so, he "also hopes to have a chat with policymakers."
Altman is truly humble.
According to incomplete statistics from PingWest, Altman has had meeting with a long and sumptuous list of policymakers. This includes European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, UK Prime Minister Sajid Javid, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Israeli President Isaac Herzog, and UAE Prime Minister Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, among others.
Altman's journey is not yet complete. At the time of publication, he is scheduled to visit Indonesia, Singapore, and Australia.
If you open Sam Altman's Twitter account, you will immediately find a multitude of cheerful photos showing various world leaders engaging in friendly conversations with him. For a moment, one might think that the G20 summit has started early and that OpenAI has become the host.
You can even see nuances in how different nations view OpenAI and the AGI wave during this G20 meeting that Altman is hosting on Twitter.
For instance, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Altman stand side by side, emphasizing honesty and trust in their messaging.
South Korea and Israel appear to be enthusiastic. Israeli President Herzog even took the initiative to place his hands on the "young man's" hands, giving a friendly and resolute impression. Herzog even asked GPT to help draft part of his speech.
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak chose to include Sam Altman in the circle of elites, adopting the posture of an influential figure.
The well-known Macron photographic team in China, on the other hand, met expectations in April of this year by shooting images in a "solemn" manner that might easily win them the title of "Champion of the Sam Altman Twitter Photography Contest (Presidential Category)" in advance.
Indeed, in human history, there have been very few individuals who, solely as entrepreneurs, have achieved the level of gaining access to numerous national leaders in such a short span of time, as Altman has. The last person to unlock such an achievement was perhaps someone like the "urban legend" Rothschild.
Even figures like Steve Jobs and Elon Musk cannot compare in this regard.
Fundamentally, over the past six months, AGI has become a significant social topics in Western society. Discussions surrounding various aspects of AGI have gradually generated differences, whether in societal sentiment or scholarly debates.
The queue of leaders meeting Altman itself is a landmark event, signaling that the topic of AGI has officially become one of the core issues in the Western political world.
This development is inevitable.
On one hand, Western society has been engaging in "pre-discussions" about the existence of AGI for decades, and the fear of AI causing the demise of humanity is deeply ingrained in many people. After all, even Altman's original intention in founding OpenAI was to "ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity."
On the other hand, AGI itself touches upon the most core social issues in Western society: employment and social security, i.e., the issue of distribution.
The distribution question raises a number of related issues, including whether the relationship between people and corporations will change (whether there will be centralized corporations), whether wealth inequality will rise, and whether some people will completely commodified or even abandoned by AI.
Since the Industrial Revolution, discussions and attitudes of this nature have been fostered. This suppressed emotion has now been let loose upon Altman.
Bolder still, AGI might follow the environmental issue as a long-term discussion point for Western political parties. Political officials can voice their worries about the AGI issue by meeting with Altman.
However, arguments around legislation, industry, and employment related to AGI will further split into radical, neutral, and conservative factions as a result of the challenge of achieving agreement on the AGI issue in the medium term, leading to protracted and contentious debates.
In this regard, it would be more appropriate to state that Altman has been dragged unwillingly into significant societal discussions as opposed to winning praise. He must engage in conversation with many different segments of Western culture, including leaders, as the one who opened and now owns Pandora's box.
Such discussion has grown even more important in light of OpenAI's recent round of data security problems in April.Indeed, rather than being a simple visit, it is more akin to a "US presidential election," with a schedule even more compact than that of the US election.
Altman not only interviews politicians but also meets with a large number of developers (the "base" of the "AGI party"), often choosing top universities as the venues for these discussions. Altman attempts to showcase the social potential of AGI to politicians and influence the top elites within each country, thereby achieving initial consensus in terms of societal ideology.
In terms of geographical sequencing, Altman is very meticulous in his choice and order of countries, typically selecting countries with significant regional influence. These countries are either influencers of future policies or the ones who will foot the bill for future industries, following a rough geographical order of the European Union → Middle East → Asia.
The European Union represents the "highest-value constituency" economically, but it also has the strongest conservative atmosphere and was one of the earliest political entities to propose a suspension of AGI development.
Next is the Middle East. Israel has maintained good relations with Silicon Valley and is a technology hub in the region. The United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and other oil-rich countries are undergoing technological transformations, hoping to seize this opportunity for technological transition. The UAE has invested heavily in the development of Falcon-45B and even surpassed Meta in May to claim the title of the most powerful open-source large-scale model.
Lastly, Asia, with its dense population and relatively calm opposition, offers abundant applications and a strong semiconductor foundation.
These three regions roughly reflect the core concerns of different regions regarding AGI:
Europe is more concerned with principles, ensuring that AGI complies with ethical standards and does not lead to the destruction of humanity or people's livelihoods.
The Middle East requires industry to ensure that the technological capabilities behind the prosperity of AGI are implemented, helping them acquire economic capabilities in the post-oil era.
Asia is more interested in the narrative. They want to understand the widespread applications of AGI and the efficiency gains it can bring to achieve socioeconomic development.
Therefore, in terms of scheduling, Altman's visit to the Middle East is actually the shortest. He can cover three countries in the Middle East within a single day. However, in Europe, Altman stayed for about ten days, going back and forth. While Asia is the finale, his time investment there is not less than in Europe.
In Europe, he often addresses civilization-level questions and skillfully avoids heavy topics. He may even intentionally present contrasting viewpoints to challenge established beliefs.
For example, during the dialogue at UCL, Altman clearly stated that AGI can drive greater equality in human society due to the immense productivity it brings. However, when promoting the web3 project, he also acknowledged the potential for AGI to concentrate wealth. Such statements can help alleviate criticism from the Labour Party.
In India, Altman openly praised the enthusiasm of Indian users for GPT and expressed how AGI can help improve government services and the quality of citizens' lives—a stance that aligns with Modi's policies.
In his dialogue with South Korea, Altman expressed his hope for support in the semiconductor field to strengthen South Korea's leadership position in semiconductors.
At first glance, it may give the impression that AGI is a global game and Altman is deploying his efforts worldwide. However, upon closer examination, Altman is tactfully playing the role of a mouthpiece for various world leaders.
It's a way of buttering up in silence.
Therefore, Altman is well aware that he is walking on a tightrope, needing to carefully navigate through minefields to ensure the development of OpenAI. For OpenAI, the greatest benefit lies in the approval of regulation—only when a compliant regulatory path is established can the sword of Damocles hanging over AGI be lifted.
And this "handshake tour" spanning the Eurasian continent may perhaps be nothing more than the opening act of this "AGI politician."