Sam Altman has claimed over the years that the advancement of AI could solve climate change, cure cancer, create a benevolent superintelligence beyond human comprehension, provide a tutor for every student, take over nearly half of the tasks in the economy and create what he calls “universal extreme wealth”.
In order to bring about his utopian future, Altman is demanding enormous resources from the present. As CEO of OpenAI, the world’s most valuable privately owned company, he has in recent months announced plans for $1tn of investment into datacenters and struck multibillion-dollar deals with several chipmakers. If completed, the datacenters are expected to use more power than entire European nations. OpenAI is pushing an aggressive expansion – encroaching on industries like e-commerce, healthcare and entertainment – while increasingly integrating its products into government, universities, and the US military and making a play to turn ChatGPT into the new default homepage for millions.
Altman’s long bid to make himself the power broker of a new, AI-powered society has started to look closer to reality as a large portion of the US economy now rides on the success of his vision. There are reports the company is preparing to go public towards the end of 2026 with up to a $1tn valuation in one of the biggest initial public offerings in history.
Good luck with that.
We plan to be a wildly successful company, but if we get it wrong, that’s on us.
That’s incorrect. If OpenAI get this wrong, they won’t (be able to) make investor whole. People would loose part of their savings if they’re exposed to OpenAI through direct or indirect investments.
Even if they get it right, everyone suffers from the pollution caused by AI datacenters, and from the opportunity cost since investors are pouring resources in this hyped technology rather than more reponsible things like renewables, energy efficiency, …
“Universal Extreme Wealth” is so ironic. Wealth is always relative. For one to be considered wealthy, someone else has to be not.
How about everyone being able to live nicely, with the basics covered? Universal Extreme Wealth is such a dystopian capitalist bait, it grosses me out.
I’d like to hear how this universal extreme wealth is supposed to actually manifest itself on a regular folks who lose their jobs to the AI craze.
He’s CEO of a large American company. Whether the company succeeds or fails, he’ll be left with more money than most people see in their life. It’s not make-or-break for him.
The thing about Altman is that he actually believes in what he’s doing.
Ultra wealthy ideologues are extremely dangerous because they think their wealth means they’re morally correct.
He’d have to be dumb as fuck to think LLMs will change the future in any meaningful way. It’s like saying chiropractics will change medicine forever. Dude’s a salesman like any other, he’s out to scam people and be a burden on society.
It’s the same pattern as social media followed over a decade ago. Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey were always claiming their services were going to change the world for the better.
Both of their services (Facebook and Twitter, respectively) have been used for organizing fascism and hate because hate is extremely profitable and they would rather have money than make the world a better place.
They have ultimately, actively changed the world for the worse.
( B ) DOUBT
As long as the people with money want to believe him, he’ll have infinite money on tap.
From the tens of thousands of heds I’ve written, I’m aware. I keep them intact here because to do otherwise would invite complaints of bias.
I fucking detest question heds on news for the same reason as Betteridge. I don’t write them myself. Basically, once I’m done reading a story and realize we have a question hed on our hands, I’ll spike for further reporting.
However, this is not news, but rather commentary. Not many columnists get to write their own heds, as the desk handles that. (of course I wrote my own, since I was also the page designer)
Lol. Lmao even
I have said it before and I will likely say it again, Sam Altman is the Rasputin of Silicon Valley.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin
In late 1906, Rasputin began acting as a faith healer for Nicholas’ and Alexandra’s only son, Alexei Nikolaevich, who suffered from haemophilia. He was a divisive figure at court, seen by some Russians as a mystic, visionary, and prophet, and by others as a religious charlatan.
The extent of Rasputin’s power reached an all-time high in 1915, when Nicholas left Saint Petersburg to oversee the Imperial Russian Army as it was engaged in the First World War. In his absence, Rasputin and Alexandra consolidated their influence across the Russian Empire. However, as Russian military defeats mounted on the Eastern Front, both figures became increasingly unpopular. In the early morning of 30 December [O.S. 17 December] 1916, Rasputin was assassinated by a group of conservative Russian noblemen who opposed his influence over the imperial family.
Historians often suggest that Rasputin’s scandalous and sinister reputation helped discredit the Tsarist government, thus precipitating the overthrow of the House of Romanov shortly after his assassination. Accounts of his life and influence were often based on common rumors; he remains a mysterious and captivating figure in popular culture.[1]
