OpenAI's Altman: Efforts to Create AGI Are Worthwhile

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, said in an interview with Stanford University's eCorner, "I don't care if we burn $50 billion or $500 billion a year. As long as we stay on track, the value we create for society will far exceed these costs. I really don't care as long as we can find a way to pay the bills."

He further stated, "We are building AGI (Artificial General Intelligence), which will be very expensive but completely worth it."

When asked about ChatGPT, Altman described it as embarrassing and added, "GPT-4 is the dumbest model you will have to use." He emphasized the importance of launching products early and frequently, as the company believes in iterative deployment.

He also mentioned that GPT-5 will be much smarter than GPT-4, and GPT-6 will be even smarter than GPT-5. "We haven't reached the peak of this curve... it will always get better."

Altman stated that when he started OpenAI, he didn't realize how much money would be needed in terms of computing. "We didn't know we would have such a good business," he said, adding that the initial goal was simply to advance AI research.

There have been many discussions around Altman's stance on spending so much money to build AGI. "He knows that once they achieve AGI, money will no longer have value," one user said. Another user said, "It's worth paying such a small price for something that can change humanity."

Earlier this year, Altman was reportedly seeking investors for a plan to invest $5 to $7 trillion in "reshaping the chip and AI business."