OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says that an era when entire companies are run by AI models is nearly upon us. And if he has it his way, it’ll be OpenAI leading the charge, even if it means losing his job.
“Shame on me if OpenAI isn’t the first big company run by an AI CEO,” Altman said on an episode of the “Conversations with Tyler” podcast recorded last month and released Wednesday.
Asked how long it will be until a large division at the company is 85 percent run by AI or more, Altman offered a bold prediction.
“Some small single digit number of years — not very far,” he said.
But when the host predicts there will be billion dollar companies “run by two or three people with AIs” in two and a half years, Altman seems to move up the timeline.
“I think the AI can do it sooner than that,” he said.
It’s another classic big boast from Altman, who rarely shies away from sweeping pronouncements about the AI industry and how it will shape the world — both good and bad. He has frequently teased that OpenAI is on the verge of achieving artificial general intelligence, or AGI, a hypothetical AI system that surpasses human intelligence in virtually all aspects. He has written an entire manifesto detailing how AI will usher in a utopic future of “massive prosperity” for all.
His doomsaying is equally prolific: Altman also warns that AI will destroy entire categories of jobs, could cause a “fraud crisis,” implode the economy, or even end the world, if we’re not careful.
By Altman’s standards, predicting AI-run companies are right around the corner is pretty tame. One thing he sounds most certain about is AI far surpassing the performance of human CEOs, himself included. This “clearly will happen someday,” Altman said.
He isn’t entirely self-effacing, however. Altman concedes the host’s point that the public-facing role of the CEO is pretty important, which is undoubtedly true for OpenAI. In no small part thanks to Altman’s grand promises, it’s capitalized on its hype to garner hundreds of billions of dollars in valuation even as it continues to lose billions of dollars every quarter. Perhaps Altman could stay the public face, he imagined out loud, while an AI makes all the big decisions.
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