We will have “superintelligence”, says OpenAI’s CEO

Altman envisions a future where AI serves as personal assistants, helping individuals solve complex problems across fields like healthcare, education, and scientific discovery.

Altman notes: "Deep learning worked, got predictably better with scale, and we dedicated increasing resources to it," pointing out that AI’s progress will continue with scale and investment.

Altman also highlights the societal implications of AI, both positive and negative. He believes that shared prosperity, enabled by AI, could make everyone's life significantly better than it is today. He acknowledges that challenges, such as shifts in the labour market, will arise but insists that new jobs and roles will be created: "Most jobs will change more slowly than most people think, and I have no fear that we’ll run out of things to do."

He mentions that we could achieve "superintelligence in a few thousand days" and views this as a pivotal moment in human history.

To harness AI’s potential, Altman stresses the importance of building sufficient infrastructure, including abundant compute and energy, to make AI widely accessible. Without this, AI risks becoming "a very limited resource that wars get fought over" and primarily benefiting the wealthy.

Altman concludes that the future will be "so bright that no one can do it justice by trying to write about it now," underscoring his optimism about AI’s transformative power.

Image credit: TechCrunch Disrupt San Francisco 2019 - Day 2