"It is genuinely hard; we need to protect vulnerable users, while also making sure our guardrails still allow all of our users to benefit from our tools."

Sam Altman bemoans the difficulty of keeping ChatGPT safe in contentious
debate with Elon Musk

Date:
Wed, 21 Jan 2026 04:00:00 +0000

Description:
Sam Altman defended OpenAIs approach to AI safety in a public clash with Elon Musk, revealing the complex challenge of building tools that protect
vulnerable users without limiting everyone else.

FULL STORY

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman isnt known for oversharing about ChatGPT's inner workings. But he admitted to difficulty keeping the AI chatbot both safe and useful. Elon Musk seemingly sparked this insight with barbed posts on X (formerly Twitter). Musk warned people not to use ChatGPT, sharing a link to
an article claiming a link between the AI assistant and nine deaths.

The blistering social media exchange between two of the most powerful figures in artificial intelligence yielded more than bruised egos or legal scars. Musk's post did not refer to the broader context of the deaths or the
lawsuits OpenAI is facing related to them, but Altman clearly felt compelled
to respond.

His answer was rather more heartfelt than the usual bland corporate boilerplate. He instead gave a glimpse at the thinking behind OpenAI's tightrope walk, balancing keeping ChatGPT and other AI tools safe for
millions of people, and defended ChatGPTs architecture and guardrails. "We
need to protect vulnerable users, while also making sure our guardrails still allow all of our users to benefit from our tools. Sometimes you complain
about ChatGPT being too restrictive, and then in cases like this you claim
it's too relaxed. Almost a billion people use it and some of them may be in very fragile mental states. We will continue to do our best to get this
right." -- https://t.co/U6r03nsHzg January 20, 2026

After rising to praise OpenAIs safety protocols and the complexity of
balancing harm reduction with product usefulness, Altman implied Musk had no standing to lob accusations because of the dangers of Teslas Autopilot
system.

He said that his own experience with it was enough to convince him it was far from a safe thing for Tesla to have released. In an especially pointed aside
at Musk, he added, I wont even start on some of the Grok decisions.

As the exchange ricocheted across platforms, what stood out most wasnt the usual billionaire posturing but Altmans unusually candid framing of what AI safety actually entails. For OpenAI, a company simultaneously deploying
ChatGPT to schoolkids, therapists, programmers, and CEOs, defining safe means threading the needle between usefulness and avoiding problems, objectives
that often conflict.

Altman has not publicly commented on the individual wrongful death lawsuits filed against OpenAI. He has, however, insisted that acknowledging real-world harm doesn't require oversimplifying the problem. AI reflects inputs, and its evolving responses make moderation and safety require more than just the
usual terms of service.

ChatGPT's safety struggle

OpenAI claims to have worked hard to make ChatGPT safer with newer versions. There's a whole suite of safety features trained to detect signs of distress, including suicidal ideation. ChatGPT issues disclaimers, halts certain interactions, and directs users to mental health resources when it detects warning signs. OpenAI also claims its models will refuse to engage with
violent content whenever possible.

The public might think this is straightforward, but Altmans post gestures at
an underlying tension. ChatGPT is deployed in billions of unpredictable conversational spaces across languages, cultures, and emotional states.
Overly rigid moderation would make the AI useless in many of those circumstances, yet easing the rules too much would multiply the potential
risk of dangerous and unhealthy interactions.

Comparing AI to automated car pilots is not exactly a perfect analogy,
despite Altman's comment. That said, one could argue that while roads are regulated, regardless of whether a human or robot is behind the wheel, AI prompts are on a more rugged trail. There is no central traffic authority for how a chatbot should respond to a teenager in crisis or answer someone with paranoid delusions. In this vacuum, companies like OpenAI are left to build their own rules and refine them on the fly.

The personal element adds another layer to the argument, too. Altman and
Musk's companies are in a protracted legal battle. Musk is suing OpenAI and Altman over the companys transition from a nonprofit research lab to a capped-profit model, alleging that he was misled when he donated $38 million
to help found the organization. He claims the company now prioritizes
corporate gain over public benefit. Altman says the shift was necessary to build competitive models and keep AI development on a responsible track. The safety conversation is a philosophical and engineering facet of a war in boardrooms and courtrooms over what OpenAI should be.

Whether or not Musk and Altman ever agree on the risks, or even speak civilly online, all AI developers might do well to follow Altman in being more transparent in what AI safety looks like and how to achieve it.

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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/ai-platforms-assistants/it-is-genuinely-hard-we-need -to-protect-vulnerable-users-while-also-making-sure-our-guardrails-still-allow -all-of-our-users-to-benefit-from-our-tools-sam-altman-bemoans-the-difficulty- of-keeping-chatgpt-safe-in-contentious-debate-with-elon-musk

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