Sam Altman is a visionary with a trustworthiness problem

IN GREEK MYTHology Prometheus stole fire from the gods and brought it to Earth. He paid for that by being bound for eternity to a rock face, where an eagle tormented him daily by pecking at his liver. Such was the price of humanity’s first great technology. In the 21st century the story of Sam Altman, the co-founder and chief executive of OpenAI, has a Promethean ring to it, too. He spearheaded the creation of ChatGPT, which was launched in late 2022, stunning the world: suddenly the revolutionary capabilities and risks of generative artificial intelligence (AI) were unleashed. A year later the capricious gods—that is to say, OpenAI’s non-profit board—sought to banish him. Unlike Prometheus, however, Mr Altman emerged unscathed.

This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Prometheus unbound ”