OpenAI CEO Sam Altman makes disturbing claim in late-night show debut with Jimmy Fallon: 'Straight out of a Black Mirror episode'

OpenAI co-founder and CEO Sam Altman was recently on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, where he spoke about the proliferation of AI and ChatGPT in everyday life. This was where one particular comment about his newborn raised a few eyebrows. 

"And do you use ChatGPT when raising your baby?" asked Fallon. 

"I do," answered Altman. "I mean, I feel kind of bad about it because we have this genius level, at everything, intelligence just waiting to unravel the mysteries of humanity, and I'm like, 'Why does my son [keep] dropping his pizza on the floor and laughing.' … So, I feel like I'm not asking a good-enough question. I cannot imagine figuring out how to raise a newborn without ChatGPT."

Altman went on to recount how ChatGPT had talked him down after being stressed that his child wasn't crawling at six months of age. It suggested that since Altman was CEO of OpenAI, he may be projecting high achievement standards that surround him on a daily basis. 

While the implications of children being reared (even partially) by AI are jarring, it goes to illustrate how deeply these services are becoming ingrained in daily life. While the erosion of humanity and creativity by AI are being thoroughly discussed, there's also a steep environmental impact from its use. 

Artificial intelligence use has dramatically ramped up energy demand at data centers. That energy production comes with a polluting cost if fueled by gas or coal. Early data shows that there has been increased atmospheric pollution resulting from AI usage.

There's hope that these costs can be mitigated. For example, Google and Microsoft have made big investments in nuclear power to keep data centers running with no energy emissions. Along that vein, Meta has been investing in geothermal power. All the while, the technology is becoming more efficient, requiring less energy to use. 

AI has strong applications in sustainability too. It's being used to research fusion energy, plan disaster scenarios, and design efficient EV batteries.

Despite this promise, social media viewers were taken aback by Altman's use of AI in raising his child. 

"This is straight out of a Black Mirror episode," said one X community member, referencing the popular dystopian sci-fi TV series. 

"Tech oligarchs spitting nonsense on The Tonight Show is surely a low point in our society. We inch closer and closer to dystopia," said one YouTube viewer. 

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