OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman says the benefits of artificial intelligence justify accepting some risks. He argues the technology should stay broadly open to the public.

“We believe that the world should accept some bad things happening for the benefits of this technology and people having the agency,” Altman told Politico’s Decoded newsletter.

Altman drew a clear line between OpenAI and rival Anthropic on regulation. He said there is “a lot of daylight” between the two companies.

He rejected the idea that a single lab should lock down powerful AI. That approach, he said, is “a completely unacceptable trade-off” that goes against OpenAI’s lighter-touch stance.

“I wouldn’t take a trade of saying, ‘We’ll make sure there’s no major hacks, there’s no misuse of this technology,'” Altman said. He believes people will do far more good than bad with AI.

At the same time, Altman endorsed Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei’s recent call to slow development of the most capable models. OpenAI has also backed tougher state safety laws and a bipartisan plan for independent AI evaluations.