Sam Altman meets with Washington to discuss 'AI super agents'

JIM WATSON/AFP Donald Trump and Sam Altman, at the White House, January 21, 2025.

Sam Altman, head of OpenAI (ChatGPT), is preparing to present “super AI agents” to American authorities. End of January , he will meet with Washington to discuss their capabilities, their autonomy and the issues they will raise. No doubt this will interest Trump, Musk and others.

Donald Trump announced a new artificial intelligence (AI) project on Tuesday, dubbed “Stargate,” including investments of at least $500 billion. Good timing! According to information from the New York Times reported by Digital Century, Sam Altman will meet with American officials on January 30th to present his company's ambitions for “super AI agents.” The big difference with what already exists is the level of autonomy. In theory, these intelligences are capable of performing complex tasks without supervision: surfing the Internet, clicking on buttons, moving the cursor, typing texts, making decisions… They would become Internet users like any other, and that is what risks causing problems.

Unsurprisingly, the American daily newspaper mentions the replacement of human functions in sectors such as computer coding or administration. Discussions in Congress promise to be stormy, as innovation is overtaken by the fear of massive job losses. On the other hand, the promise of automating less-skilled jobs could free up time for more creative missions. 

Furthermore, critical voices, such as that of Steve Bannon, warn of the risks of social destabilization. Beyond automation, the crucial question remains that of the biases and reliability of AI. If these autonomous systems generate “hallucinations” or make erroneous decisions, it is the very foundations of the technology industry that will shake. According to OpenAI employees reported by Axios, the duality between fascination and fear is palpable within the company. Needless to say, the general public may also be surprised, as these super-agents interfere in all aspects of our daily lives. 

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