Sam Altman says people may someday “buy intelligence on a meter” like electricity or water and critics say the vision sounds more dystopian than innovative.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/47387000

Sam Altman says OpenAI wants to sell intelligence like a utility

During a recent appearance at BlackRock in Washington, D.C., OpenAI’s Sam Altman, shared his vision for the future of AI. At one point saying, “We see a future where intelligence is a utility, like electricity or water, and people buy it from us on a meter.”

Altman was describing a world where AI becomes a foundational infrastructure, something woven into everyday life so deeply that consumers and businesses simply “plug into” it the same way they rely on electricity, Wi-Fi or running water.

  • ZDL@lazysoci.al
    2·
    2 days ago

    I have memories of people sneaking some form of Internet connection into the workplace against the rules of corporate IT. I have memories of young people arguing with their (older) bosses that the Internet was the future and bosses pushing back and banning it. I have memories of people being eager to get hooked up to the Internet at home; people actively looking to find an ISP that would allow another sign-up (because most of them were saturated at the time).

    I also have memories of how every new user on the Internet increased the profitability of the Internet sphere as a whole instead of, you know—like with modern AI—each new user being a further drain.

    So yes, we have different memories. Mine just happen to line up with facts.