Sam Altman at Italian Tech Week 2024 (Stefano Guidi/Getty Images)

Altman: Artificial general intelligence will arrive during Trump’s time

The OpenAI CEO admitted to moving the goalposts as to what that means, however.

1/6/25 11:58AM

In a wide-ranging interview with Bloomberg, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman reflected on his tumultuous leadership during the young company’s most consequential moments, and shed light on the progress of company’s quest for its Holy Grail: AGI, or artificial general intelligence.

Filling in some details of early OpenAI lore, Altman decided to release the first version of ChatGPT against the advice of his team:

“‘Why are you making us launch this? It’s a bad decision. It’s not ready.’ I don't make a lot of ‘we’re gonna do this thing’ decisions, but this was one of them.”

Altman said he told the team, “I think we have something on our hands that we do not appreciate here.”

Defining exactly what AGI means is slippery, and Altman admits to moving the goalposts.

“Can it start as a computer program and decide it wants to become a doctor? Can it do what the best people in the field can do or the 98th percentile? How autonomous is it? I don’t have deep, precise answers there yet, but if you could hire an AI as a remote employee to be a great software engineer, I think a lot of people would say, ‘OK, that’s AGI-ish.’”

Altman predicted that AGI will be achieved during the new Trump admin, and he didn’t make much of his $1 million personal donation to Trump’s inaugural committee. “He’s the president of the United States. I support any president.”

That said, he did not donate to Biden’s inauguration.

When asked about the potential risks of ChatGPT’s misuse, such as being used to develop bioweapons, Altman wants to move fast and break things:

“I can simultaneously think that these risks are real and also believe that the only way to appropriately address them is to ship product and learn.”

Altman said the company has been working hard with partners like Nvidia to secure enough GPUs for its voracious computing needs, and is working on its own chips as well.

As for powering all these energy-hungry data centers that OpenAI relies on, Altman would prefer to use nuclear fusion, which has yet to be commercialized at scale (though Altman is bullish on his fusion startup, Helion).

Altman’s recent squabbles with OpenAI cofounder Elon Musk have drawn a lot of attention, including Musk’s lawsuits seeking to block OpenAI’s restructuring to a for-profit company.

When asked about the threat of Musk’s newfound power as Trump’s adviser and buddy:

“The question was, will he abuse his political power of being co-president, or whatever he calls himself now, to mess with a business competitor? I don’t think he’ll do that. I genuinely don’t. May turn out to be proven wrong.”

Jon Keegan7h

WSJ: OpenAI plans Q4 IPO in race to be the first AI startup to enter public markets

OpenAI was the first to the generative AI market with ChatGPT, and now it hopes to be the first of its AI startup cohort to pull off an initial public offering, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. The $500 billion startup is in a race against its $350 billion competitor Anthropic to IPO, who has also been exploring one.

According to the report, OpenAI is in talks with banks to try for a fourth-quarter IPO this year, which has the potential to be one of the largest IPOs ever, in a year that is expected to see many record breaking tech companies make tap into public markets to raise massive new rounds of capital.

Ahead of a potential public listing, OpenAI is reportedly attempting to raise a massive round of private investment. The company is reportedly aiming to raise $100 billion, with Amazon potentially accounting for up to half that target. Other investors in talks with OpenAI over the private fundraising round include Nvidia, Microsoft, and SoftBank.

Exclusive | OpenAI Plans Fourth-Quarter IPO in Race to Beat Anthropic to Market

Rani Molla8h

SpaceX is actually considering a merger with Tesla or xAI: Report

Bloomberg reports that Elon Musk’s SpaceX is considering merging with Musk’s Tesla. Earlier today, Reuters had reported that SpaceX was thinking of potentially merging with xAI ahead of SpaceX’s IPO this year.

From Bloomberg:

“The firm has discussed the feasibility of a tie-up between SpaceX and Tesla, an idea that some investors are pushing, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information isn’t public. Separately, they are also exploring a tie-up between SpaceX and xAI ahead of an IPO, some of the people said.”

Musk’s companies already have numerous relationships between themselves, including most recently Tesla’s $2 billion investment in xAI. At Tesla’s shareholder meeting last year, shareholders voted to invest in the company but the board didn’t approve the measure due to significant abstentions.

In 2024, SpaceX incurred about $2.4 million in expenses under commercial, licensing, and support agreements with Tesla, and Tesla incurred about $800,000 in expenses for Musk’s use of SpaceX’s jet.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX Is Said to Consider Merger With Tesla or xAI

From Bloomberg:

“The firm has discussed the feasibility of a tie-up between SpaceX and Tesla, an idea that some investors are pushing, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information isn’t public. Separately, they are also exploring a tie-up between SpaceX and xAI ahead of an IPO, some of the people said.”

Rani Molla

APPLE OF MY AI

Apple posts record quarterly revenue and iPhone sales

But all eyes will be on margins and AI.

Rani Molla10h

WSJ: Amazon considering $50 billion investment in OpenAI

What a difference half a day makes. Earlier today, The Information reported that Amazon was considering investing roughly $10 billion to $20 billion in OpenAI as part of a $60 billion fundraising round alongside Nvidia and Microsoft. Now The Wall Street Journal is reporting the e-commerce giant could invest up to $50 billion in the ChatGPT maker as part of a larger, $100 billion funding round. The Financial Times also earlier reported today a $100 billion funding round but with smaller amounts from Nvidia, Microsoft, and Amazon.

Exclusive | Amazon in Talks to Invest Up to $50 Billion in OpenAI

Rani Molla12h

Elon Musk’s SpaceX reportedly in talks to merge with xAI

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is reportedly exploring a merger between SpaceX and his artificial intelligence startup, xAI, a move that would bundle rockets, satellites, the social media site X, and AI under one company ahead of SpaceX’s long-anticipated IPO.

According to Reuters reporting, the deal would swap xAI shares for SpaceX stock, potentially valuing the combined operation north of $1 trillion.

Reuters reports:

“Two entities have been set up in Nevada to facilitate the transaction, the person said.

Reuters could not determine the value of the deal, its ‌primary rationale, or its potential timing.

Corporate filings in Nevada show that those entities were set up on January 21. One of them, a limited liability company, lists SpaceX and Bret Johnsen, the company’s chief financial officer, as managing members, while the other lists Johnsen as the company’s only officer, the filings show.”

The combined companies could also set the narrative groundwork for putting data centers in space — an idea that Musk and a number of other tech billionaires have been floating lately but that may not get off the ground.

In its earnings filings yesterday, Tesla disclosed that it recently made a $2 billion investment in xAI. Last year, Musk’s xAI bought Musk’s X in an all-stock deal.

Exclusive: Musk's SpaceX in merger talks with xAI ahead of planned IPO, source says