--- title: "Former OpenAI Exec Predicts AI Could Be Last Thing Humans Ever Invent" description: "One of OpenAI's earliest acolytes seems to think AI is a gift from on high — but what he's preaching sounds pretty fishy." date: "2024-01-18" modified: "2024-01-18" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/ex-openai-exec-ai-last-invention" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "OpenAI" tags: - "artificial intelligence" - "doomer" - "OpenAI" - "the digest" --- # Former OpenAI Exec Predicts AI Could Be Last Thing Humans Ever Invent ![One of OpenAI's earliest acolytes seems to think AI is a gift from on high — but what he's preaching sounds pretty fishy.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## Preacher Man One of OpenAI's earliest acolytes seems to think artificial intelligence is a gift from on high — and it sounds, depending on your point of view, either optimistic or disturbing. In an [interview with *Business Insider*](), former OpenAI executive Zack Kass went off about all the ways he thinks AI will save the world. He's such a believer in that idea that he left OpenAI to "[support the AI revolution]()" last fall, becoming something of a self-appointed PR agent for the algorithms. "Where I landed was being the voice of the counter-narrative — that AI isn't doom and gloom, that the future isn't dystopian and post-apocalyptic, but that it is bright and full of more joy and less suffering," Kass said. "So now basically my purpose and mission is to promote a really exciting bright future." As the first employee of OpenAI's Go-to-Market division, and later as its leader before leaving, Kass admitted that in the short-term, the technology he's been instrumental in building will generate a "whole lot of first-world implications that are really uncomfortable for people, but actually net good." Of those implications, the self-described "AI futurist" believes that people in developed countries will "end up working a lot less." And in poorer countries, he thinks that "every child \[will have\] an AI-powered teacher," though if the AI has already cut into the developed-world jobs, it's not entirely clear what they might do with those advanced educations. ## Game Changer Kass said that there's a consensus among AI industry movers and shakers that regardless of whether their outlook is positive or negative, "they all recognize the incredible potential of this technology." "I have not met an industry insider who I respected who didn't acknowledge the fact that this could be the last technology humans ever invent," he mused, "and that, from here on out, AI just propels us at an exceptional rate and we live more and more fulfilling, joyful lives with less suffering and you know, we explore other worlds and galaxies, etc." Kass at multiple points acknowledges that he could come off as naive, and admitted that a "lot of industry insiders take a much more dubious view of the downside" of AI than he does. "I think there are people who will tell you that the risk is so great that even the upside isn't worth it," he said. "I just definitely don't agree with that. I just don't see any evidence to suggest that AI will want to kill us all." That's fair enough — though at this point, there also doesn't seem to be much evidence that there will be AI teachers for every child in the developing world, either. **More on OpenAI:** [*Sam Altman Says Human-Tier AI Is Coming Soon*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()