Latest news with #Von
Economic Times
4 days ago
- Business
- Economic Times
Will AI take away our sense of purpose? Sam Altman says, ‘People Will have to redefine what it means to contribute'
Synopsis OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, in a conversation with Theo Von, addressed concerns about AI's impact on humanity. Altman acknowledged anxieties surrounding job displacement and data privacy, particularly regarding users sharing personal information with AI. He highlighted the lack of legal protections for AI conversations, creating a privacy risk. AP OpenAI CEO Sam Altman talked about AI's impact on jobs and human purpose. Altman acknowledged concerns about data privacy and the rapid pace of AI development. He also addressed the lack of clear legal regulations. Altman highlighted the risks of users sharing personal information with AI. In a rare, thought-provoking conversation that danced between comedy and existential crisis, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sat down with podcaster Theo Von on This Past Weekend. What unfolded was less a traditional interview and more a deeply human dialogue about the hopes, fears, and massive unknowns surrounding artificial intelligence. As AI continues its unstoppable advance, Von posed a question many of us have been quietly asking: 'Are we racing toward a future where humans no longer matter?' Altman didn't sugarcoat the situation. He agreed with many of Von's concerns, from data privacy to AI replacing jobs, and even the unnerving pace at which the technology is evolving. 'There's this race happening,' Altman said, referring to the breakneck competition among tech companies. 'If we don't move fast, someone else will — and they might not care as much about the consequences.' But amid all the alarms, Altman offered a cautious dose of optimism. 'Even in a world where AI is doing all of this stuff humans used to do,' he said, 'we are going to find a way to feel like the main characters.' His tone, however, betrayed a sense of uncertainty: the script isn't written yet. Perhaps the most powerful moment came when Von bluntly asked: 'What happens to our sense of purpose when AI does everything for us?' Altman acknowledged that work has always been a major source of meaning for people. While he's hopeful that AI will free humans to pursue more creative or emotional pursuits, he conceded that the transition could be deeply painful. 'One of the big fears is like purpose, right?' Von said. 'Like, work gives us purpose. If AI really continues to advance, it feels like our sense of purpose would start to really disappear.' Altman responded with guarded hope: 'People will have to redefine what contribution looks like… but yeah, it's going to be unsettling.' In what may be one of the most revealing admissions from a tech CEO, Altman addressed the disturbing trend of people — especially young users — turning to AI as a confidant or therapist. 'People talk about the most personal sh*t in their lives to ChatGPT,' he told Von. 'But right now, if you talk to a therapist or a lawyer or a doctor about those problems, there's legal privilege… We haven't figured that out yet for when you talk to ChatGPT.' With AI tools lacking legal confidentiality protections, users risk having their most intimate thoughts stored, accessed, or even subpoenaed in court. The privacy gap is real, and Altman admitted the industry is still trying to figure it out. Adding to the complexity, Altman highlighted how the lack of federal AI regulations has created a patchwork of rules that vary wildly across states. This legal uncertainty is already playing out in real-time — OpenAI, for example, is currently required to retain user conversations, even deleted ones, as part of its legal dispute with The New York Times. 'No one had to think about that even a year ago,' Altman said, calling the situation 'very screwed up.'
Time of India
4 days ago
- Automotive
- Time of India
Will AI take away our sense of purpose? Sam Altman says, ‘People Will have to redefine what it means to contribute'
In a rare, thought-provoking conversation that danced between comedy and existential crisis, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sat down with podcaster Theo Von on This Past Weekend. What unfolded was less a traditional interview and more a deeply human dialogue about the hopes, fears, and massive unknowns surrounding artificial intelligence. As AI continues its unstoppable advance, Von posed a question many of us have been quietly asking: 'Are we racing toward a future where humans no longer matter?' Explore courses from Top Institutes in Please select course: Select a Course Category Digital Marketing Data Science Data Analytics Artificial Intelligence others Project Management Leadership Management Operations Management Technology Product Management Cybersecurity CXO Design Thinking Public Policy Others Data Science Finance PGDM Degree Healthcare MBA MCA healthcare Skills you'll gain: Digital Marketing Strategy Search Engine Optimization (SEO) & Content Marketing Social Media Marketing & Advertising Data Analytics & Measurement Duration: 24 Weeks Indian School of Business Professional Certificate Programme in Digital Marketing Starts on Jun 26, 2024 Get Details Skills you'll gain: Digital Marketing Strategies Customer Journey Mapping Paid Advertising Campaign Management Emerging Technologies in Digital Marketing Duration: 12 Weeks Indian School of Business Digital Marketing and Analytics Starts on May 14, 2024 Get Details 'We're Still the Main Characters'—But for How Long? Altman didn't sugarcoat the situation. He agreed with many of Von's concerns, from data privacy to AI replacing jobs, and even the unnerving pace at which the technology is evolving. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Never Put Eggs In The Refrigerator. Here's Why... Car Novels Undo 'There's this race happening,' Altman said, referring to the breakneck competition among tech companies. 'If we don't move fast, someone else will — and they might not care as much about the consequences.' But amid all the alarms, Altman offered a cautious dose of optimism. 'Even in a world where AI is doing all of this stuff humans used to do,' he said, 'we are going to find a way to feel like the main characters.' His tone, however, betrayed a sense of uncertainty: the script isn't written yet. You Might Also Like: Telling secrets to ChatGPT? Using it as a therapist? Your AI chats aren't legally private, warns Sam Altman AI and the Crisis of Human Purpose Perhaps the most powerful moment came when Von bluntly asked: 'What happens to our sense of purpose when AI does everything for us?' Altman acknowledged that work has always been a major source of meaning for people. While he's hopeful that AI will free humans to pursue more creative or emotional pursuits, he conceded that the transition could be deeply painful. 'One of the big fears is like purpose, right?' Von said. 'Like, work gives us purpose. If AI really continues to advance, it feels like our sense of purpose would start to really disappear.' Altman responded with guarded hope: 'People will have to redefine what contribution looks like… but yeah, it's going to be unsettling.' You Might Also Like: Sam Altman wishes to give 'free GPT-5' to everyone on Earth: OpenAI CEO's bold dream sparks awe and alarm AI as Therapist? The Privacy Dilemma We Can't Ignore In what may be one of the most revealing admissions from a tech CEO, Altman addressed the disturbing trend of people — especially young users — turning to AI as a confidant or therapist. 'People talk about the most personal sh*t in their lives to ChatGPT,' he told Von. 'But right now, if you talk to a therapist or a lawyer or a doctor about those problems, there's legal privilege… We haven't figured that out yet for when you talk to ChatGPT.' With AI tools lacking legal confidentiality protections, users risk having their most intimate thoughts stored, accessed, or even subpoenaed in court. The privacy gap is real, and Altman admitted the industry is still trying to figure it out. A Legal Gray Zone and a Growing Cloud of Concern Adding to the complexity, Altman highlighted how the lack of federal AI regulations has created a patchwork of rules that vary wildly across states. This legal uncertainty is already playing out in real-time — OpenAI, for example, is currently required to retain user conversations, even deleted ones, as part of its legal dispute with The New York Times. 'No one had to think about that even a year ago,' Altman said, calling the situation 'very screwed up.'
The Star
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Star
Who is watching all these podcasts?
The following are the run times of some recent episodes of several of YouTube's more popular podcasts: 'This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von,' No. 595: Two hours, 14 minutes. 'Club Shay Shay,' No. 172: Two hours, 59 minutes. 'The Shawn Ryan Show,' No. 215: Five hours, four minutes. 'Lex Fridman Podcast,' No. 461: Five hours, 20 minutes. These shows follow the same general format: people sitting in chairs, in generically designed studios, talking. And, like many of the biggest podcasts these days, these shows are all released as videos. They don't feature particularly fancy camerawork, or flashy graphics, or narratives. All of them require time commitments typical of feature films, ballgames or marathon performance art installations. Yet going by YouTube's statistics, hundreds of thousands of people have viewed all of the above episodes. Which leads to comments such as this, as one fan wrote after a recent episode of Von's show: 'Truly, this podcast was amazing to watch.' So a genre of media named for an audio device – the iPod, discontinued by Apple in 2022 – and popularised by audiences enamoured of on-demand listening has transformed in recent years into a visual one. It's well established that the American brain is the prize in a war for attention online, a place that incentivises brief and sensational content, not static five-hour discussions about artificial intelligence. So what gives? Who exactly is watching the supersize video talk shows that have come to define podcasting over the past several years? At the highest level, the audience for video podcasts is simply people who consume podcasts. 'Who is watching these?' said Eric Nuzum, a podcast strategist. 'A person who loves podcasts who happens to be near a screen.' Indeed, according to an April survey by Cumulus Media and media research firm Signal Hill Insights, nearly three-fourths of podcast consumers play podcast videos, even if they minimize them, compared with about one-fourth who listen only to the audio. Paul Riismandel, president of Signal Hill, said this split holds across age groups – it's not simply driven by Generation Z and that younger generation's supposed great appetite for video. But dive a bit deeper into the data, and it becomes clear that how people are watching podcasts – and what counts as watching – is a far more revealing question. According to the Signal Hill survey, about 30% of people who consume podcasts 'play the video in the background or minimise on their device while listening.' Perhaps this person is folding laundry and half-watching 'Pod Save America,' or has 'The Joe Rogan Experience' open in a browser tab while they do busy work at the office. That describes Zoë McDermott, a 31-year-old title insurance producer from Pennsylvania, who said she streams video of Von's show on her phone while she works. 'I don't have the ability to watch the entire thing through, but I do my glance-downs if I hear something funny,' McDermott said. 'It's passive a little bit.' Still, this leaves everyone else – more than half of YouTube podcast consumers, who say they are actively watching videos. Here, it gets even trickier. YouTube, the most popular platform for podcasts, defines 'views' in a variety of ways, among them a user who clicks 'play' on a video and watches for at least 30 seconds: far from five hours. And the April survey data did not distinguish between people who were watching, say, four hours of Lex Fridman interviewing Marc Andreessen from people who were viewing the much shorter clips of these podcasts that are ubiquitous on TikTok, Instagram Reels, X and YouTube itself. All of which makes it hard to pinpoint a 'typical' podcast viewer. Is it a couple on the couch with a bucket of popcorn, streaming to their smart TV? Is it a young office worker scrolling through TikTok during his commute? Or is it the same person engaging in different behaviour at different points in the day? Alyssa Keller, who lives in Michigan with her family, said sometimes she watches 'The Shawn Ryan Show' on the television with her husband. But more often, she puts the video on the phone for a few hours while her children are napping. This means she sometimes has to watch marathon episodes in chunks. 'I've been known to take multiple days,' she said. 'Nap times only last for like two hours.' In February, YouTube announced that more than 1 billion people a month were viewing podcasts on its platform. According to Tim Katz, head of sports and news partnerships at YouTube, that number is so large that it must include users who are actually mainlining five-hour talk shows. 'Any time you have a number that large, you're going to have a broad swath of people consuming in lots of different ways,' Katz said. Recently, The New York Times asked readers if and how they consume video podcasts. Many of the respondents said they played video podcasts in the background while attending to work or chores, and still treated podcasts as audio-only products. A few said they liked being able to see the body language of podcast hosts and their guests. Still others said that they didn't like video podcasts because they found the visual component distracting or unnecessary. Video can have its drawbacks. Lauren Golds, a 37-year-old researcher based in Virginia, said she regularly hate-watches podcasts at work – in particular 'On Purpose,' which is hosted by British entrepreneur and life coach Jay Shetty. She said she had had awkward encounters when co-workers have looked at her screen and told her that they love the show she's watching. 'There's no way to say it's garbage and I'm watching it for entertainment purposes to fill my need for hatred,' Golds said. One thing a 'typical' podcaster consumer is less likely to be these days is someone listening to a full-attention-required narrative program. Say 'podcast' and many people still instinctively think of painstakingly produced, deeply reported, audio-only shows such as 'Serial' and 'This American Life,' which listeners consumed via audio-only platforms such as Apple Podcasts and the iHeartRadio app. Traditional podcasts relied on host-read and scripted ads to make money, and on media coverage and word of mouth for discovery. And it was a lot of money, in some cases: In 2019, to take one example, Spotify acquired Gimlet – one of the defining podcast producers of the 2010s – as part of a US$340mil (RM1.4bil) investment in podcast startups. Now, the size of the market for video podcasts is too large to ignore, and many ad deals require podcasters to have a video component. The platforms where these video podcasts live, predominantly YouTube and Spotify, are creating new kinds of podcast consumers, who expect video. McDermott, the Von fan, said the video component made her feel like she had a friendly guest in her home. 'It feels a little more personal, like somebody is there with you,' she said. 'I live alone with my two cats and I'm kind of in a rural area in Pennsylvania, so it's just a little bit of company almost.' The world of podcasts today is also far more integrated into social media. Clips of video podcasts slot neatly into the Gen Z and millennial behemoths of TikTok and Instagram. The sophisticated YouTube recommendation algorithm suggests relevant new podcasts to viewers, something that wasn't possible in the old, siloed model on other platforms. To get a sense of just how much things have changed, imagine the viral podcast appearances of the 2024 presidential campaign – Donald Trump on Von's podcast and Kamala Harris on 'Call Her Daddy' – happening without YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and X. You can't. In a sign of the times, in June, radio company Audacy shuttered Pineapple Street Studios, a venerable podcast producer known for its in-depth narrative shows such as 'Wind of Change' and Ronan Farrow's 'The Catch and Kill Podcast.' Jenna Weiss-Berman, who co-founded Pineapple Street, is now head of audio at comedian and actress Amy Poehler's Paper Kite Productions. Poehler's new podcast, 'Good Hang with Amy Poehler,' is typical of the genre: a charismatic, well-known host, interviewing other charismatic, well-known people. Weiss-Berman said she was concerned that the costs associated with high-quality video production would be prohibitive for smaller podcast creators, who faced almost no barrier to entry when all the genre required was a few microphones. 'If you want to do it well, you need a crew and a studio,' Weiss-Berman said. For podcasters with an established audience, the potential of video to open up new audiences for the world of talk podcasts is obvious. (The Times has introduced video podcasts hosted by some of its more recognisable columnists.) Adam Friedland, a comedian who started his video interview show in 2022, first came to prominence on an irreverent and lewd audio-only hangout podcast with two fellow comedians. He got an early taste of the limitations of traditional podcast distribution when he discovered fan cutups of the funniest moments of his old show on YouTube. 'There was an organic growth to it,' Friedland said. 'We weren't doing press or promoting it.' Friedland's new show is an arch interview program with high-profile guests and considerably fewer impenetrable – not to mention scatological – references. Along with that, distribution over YouTube has made a once cult figure something a bit closer to a household name, as he discovered recently. 'There was a regular middle-aged guy at a Starbucks who said he liked the show,' Friedland recalled. 'Some guy holding a Sweetgreen.' Friedland's show is the rare video podcast with a distinctive visual point of view. The vintage-looking set is a reconstruction of 'The Dick Cavett Show.' And Friedland made it clear that he prefers people to watch the show rather than listen to it. The many ways that Americans now consume podcasts – actively and passively, sometimes with another device in hand, sometimes without – bears an obvious similarity to the way Americans consume television. 'I think podcasts could become kind of the new basic cable television,' said Marshall Lewy, chief content officer of Wondery, a podcast network owned by Amazon. Think: shows that are cheaper to produce than so-called premium streaming content, consumed by audiences used to half-watching television while scrolling their smartphones, in a wide variety of genres. Indeed, although talk dominates among video podcasts, Lewy said he thought the trend for video would lead to more shows about food and travel – categories beloved by advertisers – that weren't ideal when podcasts were audio only. All of which calls into question the basic nature of the term 'podcast.' Riismandel, who runs the research firm Signal Hill, said he thought the category applied to any programming that could be listened to without video and still understood. According to Katz, the YouTube executive, the nature of the podcaster is undergoing a redefinition. It includes both audio-only podcasters moving to video, as well as social media content creators who have realised that podcasts present another opportunity to build their audiences. One concern with the shift to video, according to former Vox and Semafor video boss Joe Posner, is that people who are less comfortable on screen will be left out. This could lead to a deepening gender divide, for example, since women are much more likely to face harassment over their looks, especially from an engaged online fan base – and therefore potentially less likely to want to be on camera for hours on end. Still, for all the eyeballs moving to YouTube, audio remains the way most consumers experience podcasts, according to the April survey, with 58% of people listening to only audio or to a minimised or backgrounded video. And although YouTube is now the most used platform for podcast consumption, per the survey, it's far from monolithic; a majority of podcast consumers say they use a platform other than YouTube most often, whether it's Spotify or Apple Podcasts. That's why at least one pillar of audio-first podcasting doesn't see much to be alarmed about. Ira Glass, creator of the foundational long-form radio show 'This American Life,' said the fact that the podcast tent has gotten bigger and thrown up a projector screen doesn't threaten a program like his. 'That's a strength, not a weakness – that both things exist and are both called the same thing,' Glass said. He stressed that audio-only podcasting has formal strengths that video podcasts don't. 'There's a power to not seeing people,' Glass said. 'There's a power to just hearing things. It just gets to you in a different way. But if people want to watch people on a talk show, that seems fine to me. I don't feel protective of podcasting in that way. I don't have snowflake-y feelings about podcasts.' – ©2025 The New York Times Company This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Time of India
6 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Telling secrets to ChatGPT? Using it as a therapist? Your AI chats aren't legally private, warns Sam Altman
Many users may treat ChatGPT like a trusted confidant—asking for relationship advice, sharing emotional struggles, or even seeking guidance during personal crises. But OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has warned that unlike conversations with a therapist, doctor, or lawyer, chats with the AI tool carry no legal confidentiality. During a recent appearance on This Past Weekend, a podcast hosted by comedian Theo Von, Altman said that users, particularly younger ones, often treat ChatGPT like a therapist or life coach. However, he cautioned that the same legal safeguards that protect personal conversations in professional settings do not extend to AI. Explore courses from Top Institutes in Please select course: Select a Course Category Data Science Artificial Intelligence Operations Management Degree Healthcare Technology Design Thinking Leadership Digital Marketing Public Policy Product Management CXO Data Analytics Finance Others others MCA PGDM Project Management Cybersecurity Data Science Management MBA healthcare Skills you'll gain: Duration: 10 Months IIM Kozhikode CERT-IIMK DABS India Starts on undefined Get Details Skills you'll gain: Duration: 11 Months IIT Madras CERT-IITM Advanced Cert Prog in AI and ML India Starts on undefined Get Details Skills you'll gain: Duration: 11 Months E&ICT Academy, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati CERT-IITG Postgraduate Cert in AI and ML India Starts on undefined Get Details Skills you'll gain: Duration: 30 Weeks IIM Kozhikode SEPO - IIMK-AI for Senior Executives India Starts on undefined Get Details Skills you'll gain: Duration: 10 Months E&ICT Academy, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati CERT-IITG Prof Cert in DS & BA with GenAI India Starts on undefined Get Details Altman explained that legal privileges—such as doctor-patient or attorney-client confidentiality—do not apply when using ChatGPT. If there's a lawsuit, OpenAI could be compelled to turn over user chats, including the most sensitive ones. 'That's very screwed up,' Altman admitted, adding that the lack of legal protection is a major gap that needs urgent attention. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like SRM Online MBA | India's top ranked institute SRM Online Learn More Undo Altman Urges New Privacy Standards for AI Altman believes that conversations with AI should eventually be treated with the same privacy standards as those with human professionals. He pointed out that the rapid adoption of generative AI has raised legal and ethical questions that didn't even exist a year ago. Von, who expressed hesitation about using ChatGPT due to privacy concerns, found Altman's warning validating. The OpenAI chief acknowledged that the absence of clear regulations could be a barrier for users who might otherwise benefit from the chatbot's assistance. 'It makes sense to want privacy clarity before you use it a lot,' Altman said, agreeing with Von's skepticism. Chats Can Be Accessed and Stored According to OpenAI's own policies, conversations from users on the free tier can be retained for up to 30 days for safety and system improvement, though they may sometimes be kept longer for legal reasons. This means chats are not end-to-end encrypted like on messaging platforms such as WhatsApp or Signal. OpenAI staff may access user inputs to optimize the AI model or monitor misuse. The privacy issue is not just theoretical. OpenAI is currently involved in a lawsuit with The New York Times, which has brought the company's data storage practices under scrutiny. A court order related to the case has reportedly required OpenAI to retain and potentially produce user conversations—excluding those from its ChatGPT Enterprise customers. OpenAI is appealing the order, calling it an overreach. Debate Around AI and Data Rights Altman also highlighted that tech companies are increasingly facing demands to produce user data in legal or criminal cases. He drew parallels to how people shifted to encrypted health tracking apps after the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade reversal, which raised fears about digital privacy around personal choices. While AI chatbots like ChatGPT have become a popular tool for emotional support, the legal framework surrounding their use hasn't caught up. Until it does, Altman's message is clear: users should be cautious about what they choose to share.
Glasgow Times
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Glasgow Times
Lewis Capaldi weighs in on viral 'Falkirk Triangle' on US podcast
The Glasgow-born singer joined podcast host Theo Von in New York to talk about his return to touring after taking two years off, give an update on his mental health, and "why so many UFOs are showing up in Scotland". The local sensation – which includes Bonnybridge and Camelon – first began to gain attention in 1992 with the area laying claim to around 300 sightings a year. Reported sightings became so prolific that councillor Billy Buchanan lobbied several UK prime ministers over the years, asking that an investigation be launched. READ MORE: 'This has been my dream': BBC MasterChef star opens new Indian restaurant READ MORE: V£14k of NHS laptops containing patient records stolen from Glasgow hospital A family out for a walk on a March evening in 1992 spoke of witnessing a basketball-sized blue light hovering on the back road from Hallglen to Bonnybridge and claimed to hear a sound similar to a "door opening" followed by a "howl". A video of an orange oval light above Falkirk, changing shape to becoming a white disc – the classic "flying saucer" shape – then disappearing suddenly was captured in October 1996. The clip went viral worldwide. Von was astonished that Capaldi was not aware of the accounts, stating: "The Falkirk Triangle is a region in central Scotland renowned as one of the world's most active UFO hotspots. "You didn't know that?" Von asked. Capaldi responded: "I didn't know that. People haven't like ... it's not become a real ... it's not as famous as ...", while looking lost as to what to say. The Scots star added: "You'd think you'd be able to catch them. If 300 are happening a year in the area, you'd be able to wait out and be like, OK, they're coming at some point, do you know what I mean? That's mad though. I never knew that." The pair went on to theorise on what was drawing the supposed UFOs to the area, with Von saying: "I wonder if there's something in Scotland that leads to it. Is it the diet?" Capaldi laughs, before telling the host about the controversial "Glasgow effect" – a term which refers to the lower life expectancy of residents of Glasgow compared to the rest of the UK – art project. The project, which sparked a row in 2016 when an artist was awarded £15,000 from Creative Scotland to deliberately stay within the confines of the city while monitoring its impact on her art, was at the time described as "a poverty safari", Capaldi states. While many of the eerie accounts in the Falkirk area– which range from seeing "big, black and cigar-shaped" objects to "a bright light criss-crossed by stripes of different colours" – are thought to be misidentifications caused by planes, satellites, weather balloons or planets, some simply can't be explained. One theory posited by ufologists is that the Falkirk Triangle could contain a window into another dimension, other worlds, the past or the future.
