What did the "Father of ChatGPT" who "traveled" to 22 countries around the world gain in five weeks

At an event earlier this month in Australia, the last stop of his global tour, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman asked the audience a question: How many countries have you visited?"

An audience member on the stage replied that it was "eight". However, when the real answer was revealed, everyone almost gasped—22!

Yes, perhaps in the short period of five weeks from May 15th to June 19th, perhaps no one in the world has a busier schedule than Altman, who is known as the "father of ChatGPT". It is not difficult to see from the itinerary of Altman below, in these five weeks, his trip has covered six continents, and he has been on the plane for 22 days, and the cumulative flight hours have reached a terrifying 86 hours..... .

Ultraman has visited almost all the major countries in the eastern and western hemispheres. Even for countries like China that could not get away in person, Ultraman also participated in the 2023 Beijing Zhiyuan Conference AI Security and Alignment through remote connections. A keynote speech was delivered at the forum.

In his last speech in Melbourne, Altman said with some regret, "I'm ready to go home, but it's still a very special experience to communicate with so many people about OpenAI."

Altman's global tour is like a star transit

For this intensive global trip, Anna Makanju, director of OpenAI’s public policy who accompanied Ultraman back to the United States, said that the company learned a lot from various conversations during Ultraman’s global trip, including the need to make OpenAI products better It is suitable for non-English speakers, and enables the outside world to distinguish whether content is generated by AI, etc.

Despite concerns about the potential risks of artificial intelligence, Altman has arguably received a "star-like" welcome on most of his trips.

Since its release in November last year, ChatGPT has taken the world by storm for its seemingly uncanny ability to compose emails, poems or computer code with just a simple conversational prompt. OpenAI also released the latest updated version of GPT-4 in March, and its accuracy and usability have been greatly improved compared with the previous version.

Dressed in a gray henley, dark trousers and a pair of iridescent trainers, Altman was mobbed by fans asking for selfies and chatting after the event in Melbourne. At the same time, of course, in the foyer, several protesters held signs, one of which read: "AI is likely to cause the end of the world."

These two contrasting scenes may be the true portrayal of the "father of ChatGPT" during most of his global tour.

Makanju, who accompanied Altman throughout the global tour, said she was surprised that people at every stop, from Lisbon to Seoul, remained focused on not letting their countries miss out on the economic opportunities that the artificial intelligence revolution could bring, even though They also want to protect themselves from the risks posed by the development of AI technology.

"People really want to make sure that whatever they do is going to benefit their economy," she said.

Makanju noted that the main risks people mentioned were concerns about disinformation, fears that AI technology would impact the labor market, and more existential anxieties around what AI's reasoning capabilities would mean for humans.

"Father of ChatGPT" and the "face-to-face" of global regulators

Of course, compared to meeting with ChatGPT fans all over the world, chatting about the future of AIGC technology, and learning more about people's demand for this phenomenal application, there are obviously more things behind Altman's global tour in the past few weeks. For deep goals and tasks...

Marietje Schaake, an international policy researcher at Stanford University and a former member of the European Parliament, said when talking about Altman's global travels, Altman is trying to build contacts around the world, mainly because he understands that regulation is coming.

So you'll see Altman repeatedly saying his company welcomes regulation, Schaake noted, probably in hopes of gaining favor with lawmakers.

In interviews earlier this year, Altman described himself as someone who is concerned about the risks posed by artificial intelligence and even "a little scared" of the technology.

Since attending a U.S. congressional hearing last month, Altman has met with French President Macron, Indian Prime Minister Modi and other heads of state to discuss the prospects and risks of AI. At a hearing in the U.S. Congress last month, Altman also called on the U.S. government to regulate the version of the large language model that drives ChatGPT.

In fact, during Altman's global tour, people's calls for strengthening AI supervision just ushered in a climax.

Shortly after Altman's visit, the European Parliament voted to advance draft legislation called the Artificial Intelligence Act, which was positioned as the first comprehensive set of AI regulations in the West, including restrictions on facial recognition and requiring some AI Models disclose copyrighted material used to train their models. In addition, during Altman's visit to Australia, the country is also undergoing an eight-week publicity of AI regulations.

Makanju said that OpenAI is currently focusing on developing a technically feasible method for managing the large models behind ChatGPT, such as standards for safety evaluation before model deployment. She also noted that OpenAI does not yet have a formal position on the EU's AI bill, as there are still multiple versions of relevant legislation that must be harmonized.

Altman and other OpenAI executives have also suggested that some deployments of AI work beyond a certain threshold capability may require the creation of a global regulator to oversee it, similar to the International Atomic Energy Agency's regulation of global nuclear energy, to overhaul the system and test whether it complies with safety standards.