Sam Altman warns of dangers of short-form video for children

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has warned against the use of short-form video content by children, describing the medium as “dangerous” due to its impact on young minds. Speaking at Salesforce’s Dreamforce conference in San Francisco, Altman told Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff that he would not allow his own children to consume such content.

Altman noted that it is unreasonable to expect children to resist the “dopamine thing” associated with short-form media. He suggested that while social media companies should not be blamed for all societal issues, he would have managed them differently to avoid pushing society away from a human-centric world.

The remarks followed discussions regarding the social toll of social media, including a recent $17.1 billion settlement by Meta involving allegations of addicting teenagers to its platforms. Altman also emphasized that the AI industry must prioritize safety over new capabilities, suggesting a model similar to the aviation industry to manage unavoidable technological accidents.