March 9, 2026
Can greed and fear be used for the greater good?
I have been thinking about my characterization of OpenAI and Anthropic as being motivated by greed. This may be unfair, given that greed motivates all of us to some degree, and it is a necessary vice if you are to succeed in the corporate world.
Economists have observed that self-interest and the profit motive are the engines of capitalism. We use legal institutions to harness these basic human instincts for the greater good.
To his credit, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has on a number of occasions mused about the need for legislation in the area of technology. I won’t argue with that, but there is another factor we should keep in mind: fear.
Why is the U.S. military so intent on getting unfettered access to AI models being developed by OpenAI and Anthropic? It’s because they fear their rivals will gain superiority in AI and use it against them. We’re in a new kind of arms race.
Fear often outweighs greed. Entrepreneurs are aware they need a rules-based playing field to keep greed from getting out of hand. But fear on a global scale can prevent this from happening — fear that rivals are not doing the same, and that our side would handicap itself with self-imposed rules.
Would some kind of international agreement work? To a certain extent, yes, but there would always be the fear that others were cheating. Would it even be possible to verify that they weren’t?