Sam Altman vs. Ray Dalio: In the Era of Superintelligence, Are Humans the Masters or the Pets?

Insight Beating AI News Flash: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman publicly posted his opposition to a future where humans live in ways AI considers worthy of reward, with AI deciding what returns to grant. In his view, humans must always retain control over the future; even if that requires limiting the development of superintelligence, decision-making power must not be ceded. Altman did not name names, but the statement he cited directly comes from Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei’s 2024 essay *Machines of Loving Grace*. Amodei raised a question at the time: If AI eventually becomes better than humans at nearly all tasks, and is cheap enough to render humans economically uncompetitive, how will society function? He discussed several possible solutions, including universal basic income, and an economic model where AI generates massive wealth then distributes resources based on human behaviors it deems worthy of reward. In this latter scenario, humans may no longer need to work for a living, but the amount of resources they receive will depend on AI’s evaluation of their actions. However, Amodei did not put forward this mechanism as a formal proposal. He acknowledged all these plans have serious flaws, and warned of potential exploitation and dystopian outcomes.