IA: Emmanuel Macron met Sam Altman, the “father” of ChatGPT

Meetings with the headliners of tech follow one another at the Élysée. After Elon Musk on May 15, on the sidelines of the Choose France summit, Emmanuel Macron received Sam Altman, president of OpenAI, the company behind the conversational robot ChatGPT, this Tuesday, May 23, 2023. The entrepreneur American also met the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, and must also meet with the Minister Delegate for Digital, Jean-Noël Barrot, this Friday, May 26.

Sam Altman’s visit to Paris is part of an international diplomatic tour. After passing through Toronto, Washington, Rio de Janeiro, Lagos and Lisbon last week, the CEO of OpenAI is on a European tour this week which will take him to Madrid, Warsaw, London, Munich and therefore Paris. Between the fears aroused by the rise of generative AI, their impact on the job market and the arrival of regulation of the sector in the European Union (EU), the subjects are not lacking.

Unsurprisingly, it was the regulation of AI that was at the center of Sam Altman’s interviews with Emmanuel Macron and Bruno Le Maire. “Developing talents and technologies in France, acting for regulation at French, European and global levels, these are our priorities in terms of artificial intelligence. We discussed it with Sam Altman, the creator of ChatGPT”indicated the President of the Republic on Twitter. “Artificial intelligence is an exceptional opportunity for our economies. It is also a profound challenge for our cultures”tweeted the Minister of the Economy.

Sam Altman in favor of AI regulation

Unlike most Silicon Valley leaders, who are very suspicious of the emergence of new regulations, the OpenAI boss had positioned himself from the start of the year in favor of AI regulation. to avoid deviations. Sam Altman notably recognized that society needs time to “to adapt to something so big”.

And for good reason, the deeply human aspect of conversational agents seems problematic. Some people “come out of a conversation with a chatbot unsettled, even if they know what’s really going on”. This feeling must be gradually erased to seduce the general public and prevent these new tools from being perceived as frightening. This is one problem among many others, such as uses for the purposes of disinformation or mass surveillance. This is why Sam Altman renewed before the American Congress last week his wish to see the sector quickly regulated.

Nevertheless, the challenge for the United States and Europe is to regulate AI without hampering the innovation process, with the risk that China will outpace its Western rivals. Last April, Jean-Noël Barrot had also made it known that a ban on ChatGPT in France was not on the agenda. He had also acknowledged that a six-month break from AI, as demanded by Elon Musk and hundreds of world experts, would not be of much use. Positions that should please the boss of OpenAI during his interview with the Minister Delegate for Digital Services scheduled for Friday, May 26.