--- title: "Former OpenAI Director Warns There Are Bad Things AI Can Do Besides Kill You" description: "One of the OpenAI directors who ousted CEO Sam Altman is issuing some stark warnings about the future of unchecked artificial intelligence." date: "2024-06-10" modified: "2024-06-10" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/former-openai-director-ai-predictions" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "OpenAI" tags: - "ai safety" - "OpenAI" - "sam altman" - "the digest" --- # Former OpenAI Director Warns There Are Bad Things AI Can Do Besides Kill You ![One of the OpenAI directors who ousted CEO Sam Altman is issuing some stark warnings about the future of unchecked artificial intelligence.]() *\Image: Jerod Harris for Vox via Getty / Futurism\* ## Storybook Ending One of the OpenAI directors who worked to oust CEO Sam Altman is issuing some stark warnings about the future of unchecked artificial intelligence. In an [interview during *Axios*' AI+ summit](), former OpenAI board member Helen Toner suggested that the risks AI poses to humanity aren't just worst-case scenarios from science fiction. "I just think sometimes people hear the phrase 'existential risk' and they just think Skynet, and robots shooting humans," Toner said, referencing the evil AI technology from the "Terminator" films that's [often used as a metaphor]() for [worst-case-scenario AI predictions](). "There's a lot of other ways that AI could really take things in a bad direction," the ex-board member said, "and we do ourselves a disservice by locking in these very specific stories." ## Direct Knowledge As a top researcher at Georgetown's Center for Security and Technology, Toner's career has been built on researching tech threats. During the course of her work at Georgetown, the researcher [criticized OpenAI's safety protocols in a safety brief]() that may have led to Altman's [brief ouster]() from the company late last November. Since that Thanksgiving massacre, which ultimately resulted in Toner's resignation from the OpenAI board, the researcher has remained [pretty tight-lipped]() about why she and some of her fellow directors had [lost faith in the CEO's leadership](). She did, however, [reveal last month]() that she and her fellow board members didn't know about the company releasing ChatGPT until they read about it on Twitter — the sort of move that could seemingly constitute the kind of breach of trust referenced in their statement announcing Altman's firing. In her remarks to *Axios*' Ina Fried, the researcher suggested that people are scared because they don't know the nuts and bolts of the technology — a state of affairs OpenAI could fix by being more open about its wares. "This is a very powerful technology," she said. "We don't know how it works. Right now it's being developed and pushed forward by a very small group of people." Beyond demystifying AI, however, Toner is now singing a different tune than she was even six months ago. "I definitely want to give the new board a chance," Toner said during the *Axios* summit. "They have a lot of new structures in place that were not possible for us to put in place before November." **More on OpenAI expats:** [*Former OpenAI Employee Says Company Had Plan to Start AGI Bidding War With China and Russia*]() ## 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]()