OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has raised fresh alarms over the rapid impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on society. Speaking at the Federal Reserve’s ‘Capital Framework for Large Banks’ conference in Washington DC, Altman said AI is already reshaping critical sectors like employment, healthcare, and cybersecurity—and also influencing how young people make life decisions.
AI is already replacing jobs
Altman said that AI has moved beyond just supporting human workers—it is now replacing entire categories of jobs. One striking example he gave was in customer support, where AI tools are handling queries more efficiently than human agents. “Customer support jobs are not changing—they’re already gone in many companies,” Altman said.
He emphasised that while AI will create new kinds of work, the transition won’t be easy. Millions of workers will need retraining, and not all new jobs will appear quickly enough. He warned that policymakers must urgently develop strategies to support workers displaced by automation.
AI diagnoses better than doctors
Altman shared that AI has become extremely effective in medical diagnosis, even outperforming most doctors in identifying diseases from data. But he quickly added that healthcare decisions should never be left entirely to machines. “These systems are great at pattern recognition, but they don’t have empathy or judgment,” he said. “We still need doctors and nurses to care for people, explain risks, and make moral decisions.”
He stressed the importance of combining AI tools with human oversight in hospitals and clinics. Without proper safeguards, relying only on machines could lead to dangerous medical outcomes.
Deepfakes will break bank security
One of Altman’s most urgent warnings was about AI-powered fraud. He explained that deepfake technology—used to create fake voices, videos, and identities—is advancing so fast that it is defeating current security systems. “Voice-based authentication? Already broken,” he said. “It’s crazy we still use it.”
Altman warned that scammers can now use just a few seconds of someone’s voice to mimic them perfectly. He urged banks to stop relying on voice-print security and switch to more advanced, layered methods. “If we don’t upgrade our security systems, we’ll see a flood of financial fraud in the next 12 to 24 months,” he said.
Young people emotionally dependent on ChatGPT
Altman also spoke about a surprising trend: many young users are turning to AI, especially tools like ChatGPT, for emotional guidance and decision-making. While he acknowledged that AI can be helpful, he said over-reliance is “bad and dangerous”.
“We’ve seen young people asking AI what to do in relationships, life choices, even how to feel,” he said. “That’s not healthy.” He encouraged parents, teachers and communities to guide children in using AI responsibly. Instead of replacing human connections, AI should support human learning and curiosity.