United Kingdom, Sept. 16 -- OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman has said people are "right to be afraid of" artificial intelligence as the technology advances rapidly, but insisted the industry can be trusted to manage the risks.

Speaking at a conference in San Francisco, Altman said the growing capabilities of AI systems meant it was becoming easier to imagine scenarios where the technology could go wrong.

He said: "It doesn't take as much imagination as it used to for [us] to imagine how this could go wrong. I think the world is right to be afraid of this."

However, Altman said AI companies understood the scale of the challenge and would act responsibly as development continued.

Adding that he was confident in the ability of OpenAI an...