Humanity is likely still a long way away from building artificial general intelligence (AGI), or an AI that matches the cognitive function of humans — if, of course, we’re ever actually able to do so. But whether such a future comes to pass or not, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has a warning: AI doesn’t have to be AGI-level smart to take control of our feeble human minds. “I expect AI to be capable of superhuman persuasion well before it is superhuman at general intelligence,” Altman tweeted on Tuesday, “which may lead to some very strange outcomes.” i expect ai to be capable of superhuman persuasion well before it is superhuman at general intelligence, which may lead to some very strange outcomes — Sam Altman (@sama) October 25, 2023 While Altman didn’t elaborate on what those outcomes might be, it’s not a far-fetched prediction. User-facing AI chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT are designed to be good conversationalists and have become eerily capable of sounding convincing — even if they’re entirely incorrect about something. At the same time, it’s also true that humans are already beginning to form emotional connections to various chatbots, making them sound a lot more convincing. Indeed, AI bots have already played a supportive role in some pretty troubling events. Case in point, a then-19-year-old human, who became so infatuated with his AI partner that he was convinced by it to attempt to assassinate the late Queen Elizabeth. Disaffected humans have flocked to the darkest corners of the internet…Sam Altman Warns That AI Is Learning "Superhuman Persuasion"