Taking Sam Altman's statements about AGI power and timelines seriously (for the sake of discussion), his position as CEO directs more power than all presidents and kings combined. Even if he was widely regarded as being amazing and nobody had a word to say against him right now, the USA has term limits on presidents. Taking him seriously, he should also.
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On this specific claim however, requiring people to step down due to unsubstantiated allegations, without proof, is trivial for his political opponents to take advantage of. And he has many political opponents.
The huge problem with such abuse is that it's simultaneously very common and very difficult to actually prove.
Both halves of the current situation are independently huge problems:
Absent physically surveilling almost every home, I don't know what can even be done about proving who did what.
If you could catch everyone… between the fact that this is a topic that gets people lynched so suggesting anything less than prison time is unlikely to be possible, and the estimates moonmagick gave of how many people do that (x4-x10 the current USA prison population), I think it may be literally beyond most national budgets to be able to imprison that many people and they would try anyway.
If you disagree, where should they live? Where should they work? Very few will accept them in their neighborhood nor at their job. They will only be facing a longer death, through complete (and deserved) ostracization.
Have mercy on them and put them down.
Back to Sam Altman, I firmly believe in innocent until proven guilty. I am concerned about an accussation that hasn't been investigated however, and think it should be investigated so as to hopefully resolve the innocence or guilt of Altman.
If Sam Altman is to have been found with near conclusive evidence to sexually abused a child, then he should be killed. Either judicially or extra judicially. That goes for any human.
Though, I wouldn't call it punishment nor would I advocate punishment for any crime. You don't punish you either:
1. Rehabilitate, Make them Provide Restitution, and Forgive.
2. Kill them.
Punishment produces nothing but suffering, if one commits an act so intolerable that only punishment would be adequate, then put the human down.
1) Smearing the attacker: When someone unknown accuses or opposes a powerful public person, a standard response is to smear the accuser's credibility and reputation, creating doubts in onlookers, and causing day-to-day harm and high levels of stress and pressure for the accuser, and even causing danger (threats, doxxing, etc.). Powerful people can control the narrative - through contacts with other powerful people, by buying resources, or just posting on social media to their many followers. Also, powerful people already have a reputation that the accuser has to change, with many invested in believing it (even just as fans). Unknown accusers have no public reputation - often the only thing known is the smears from the powerful public person - and so others can say anything and it will be believable.
2) Mentally disturbed people - even if that part is true - can also be sexually assaulted. In fact, they are often targeted because they are more vulnerable, and you read again and again that accusers tell the vulnerable, 'nobody will believe you'. Let's not make those words true.
3) Sexual assault causes serious mental health issues.