Late last week, OpenAI was announced — a non-profit artificial intelligence research company, backed by a set of tech-industry stars that include Elon Musk, Reid Hoffman, Jessica Livingston, Sam Altman, and Peter Thiel. (As well as some funding from Amazon Web Services.) Collectively, they’ve committed over $1 billion dollars to the venture. Why their interest? The founding document makes mention of the huge upside of AI to humanity — but even more so the downside, should AI be abused. Given that potential range of outcomes, it’s wonderful that there is such a smart (and well financed) group of people being so thoughtful on the subject. But there’s one theme in the rationale for the creation of the venture that really stands out: