Barry Diller trusts Sam Altman. But ‘trust is irrelevant’ as AGI nears, he says.

Barry Diller — the media mogul behind Expedia and IAC — said something interesting recently that’s worth unpacking. He personally trusts Sam Altman, the guy running OpenAI. But in the same breath, he said trust basically doesn’t matter when it comes to artificial general intelligence, or AGI. Think of it this way: you might completely trust the engineer driving a very fast train, but if the brakes haven’t been properly designed yet, the driver’s character isn’t really the point. That’s essentially what Diller is getting at. The technology itself, once it reaches a certain level, operates beyond any single person’s intentions or goodwill.

AGI is the idea of AI that can do pretty much any intellectual task a human can — not just write emails or summarize documents, but reason, plan, and adapt across completely new situations. We’re not there yet, but serious people are treating it as a near-term possibility rather than science fiction. Diller’s concern is that when something that capable exists, having a trustworthy CEO at the helm is a bit like saying “don’t worry, the person holding the fire hose is very responsible.” It helps, sure, but you still want fire codes, sprinkler systems, and building inspectors. The guardrails need to exist independent of whoever’s in charge.

So what does this mean for you practically? A few things worth thinking about:

Keep your skills human-centered. The more AI can automate, the more valuable genuinely human skills become — negotiation, relationship-building, creative judgment. If you’re a freelancer or small business owner, double down on what you do that requires trust and nuance. Those are the last things to automate and the first things clients will still pay a premium for.

Watch the regulation space like a business opportunity. Every time governments start building “guardrails” around technology, new industries emerge to help companies comply. If you’re in consulting, HR, legal, or even just operations, getting familiar with AI governance frameworks now puts you ahead of a wave of demand that’s quietly building.

Don’t over-invest in any single AI tool. Diller’s point about unpredictability is a good reminder that the AI landscape is genuinely unsettled. If your business currently runs on one AI platform, start experimenting with alternatives. Diversifying costs you a little time now and could save you a lot of disruption later.

The real takeaway here isn’t that AI is scary — it’s that the people building it being good guys is necessary but nowhere near sufficient.