Sam Altman: I don't care if we burn $50 billion a year, we're building AGI and it's going to be worth it

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, recently appeared on Stanford eCorner's talk and expressed his perspective on the company's financial investments. "Whether we burn $500 million, $5 billion, or $50 billion a year, I don't care. I genuinely don't, as long as we can stay on a trajectory where eventually we create way more value for society than that and as long as we can figure out a way to pay the bills," he stated. Altman emphasized the importance of the company's goal to create Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), despite the high costs involved. "We are making AGI, and it is going to be expensive and totally worth it," he added.

Regarding the ChatGPT model, Altman expressed less enthusiasm, calling it embarrassing. He mentioned that GPT-4 is the "dumbest model" users will ever have to use, highlighting the importance of shipping early and often and the company's belief in iterative deployment. Altman also discussed the future of AI models, noting that GPT-5 will be smarter than GPT-4, and GPT-6 will be smarter than GPT-5. He emphasized that OpenAI is continuously improving its AI models and is far from reaching the peak of advancement.

Altman reflected on OpenAI's initial goals, mentioning that when the company started, they did not anticipate needing such a significant amount of funding for computational resources. The primary goal was to advance AI research, with no expectation of developing a lucrative business.

Altman's stance on investing substantial amounts of money to build AGI has sparked discussions, with some comparing the investment to the GDP of some countries. Some users believe that Altman understands that money will lose its value once AGI is achieved, while others see the investment as a small price to pay for a technology that could transform humanity.

Earlier this year, Altman was reportedly seeking an investment of $5 to $7 trillion to reshape the business of chips and AI.