Democratising AI Is the Only Safe Path Forward,’ Says OpenAI CEO Sam Altman at India AI Impact Summit

OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman on Thursday said that broad access to artificial intelligence is essential for humanity’s long-term benefit, calling the democratisation of AI “the only fair and safe path forward” as the technology rapidly advances in capability and reach.

Speaking at the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, Altman praised India’s progress in deploying AI across sectors and highlighted the country’s potential to shape how the technology is used at population scale.
“It is striking how much progress India has made in its mission to put AI to work,” he said. “AI will definitely impact the job market as it becomes more capable of performing tasks that have traditionally been done by humans.”

AI and the Future of Work

Altman acknowledged that as AI systems become more capable, workflows across industries will change, with automation reshaping roles in areas such as customer support, software development, content creation and analytics. He said the challenge for policymakers and businesses will be to ensure that productivity gains are paired with reskilling and new job creation, rather than displacement alone.

Content, Creators and Fair Use

Addressing concerns from publishers and creators over how AI models are trained and how content is displayed, Altman said OpenAI is seeking to balance innovation with collaboration.
“Our stance is that when we’re displaying a quote from a news article or an opinion piece, we want to do that in a way where we can explore new business models with creators for training,” he said, adding that OpenAI’s current approach is grounded in the US doctrine of fair use.

The comments come amid ongoing debates globally over copyright, licensing and revenue-sharing frameworks for generative AI platforms.

Superintelligence ‘A Few Years Away’

Altman also offered a timeline for more advanced AI systems, saying that early versions of what could be described as “true superintelligence” may be just a couple of years away. He cautioned that the pace of progress underscores the need for governance, safety research and equitable access.

“We believe that democratisation of AI is the only fair and safe path forward to ensure that humanity flourishes,” he said.

Light Moment With Rival CEO

In a lighter aside, Altman described an awkward onstage moment with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei during the summit.
“I was sort of confused and didn’t know what I was supposed to do,” he said, drawing laughter from the audience as the two rival AI leaders shared the stage.

As India accelerates its push to integrate AI across government services, startups and enterprise applications, Altman’s remarks underline the growing global focus on how access, safety and economic impact will shape the next phase of the AI era.