In an exclusive interview with the Financial Times, Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, the groundbreaking AI startup behind ChatGPT, revealed ambitious plans to secure additional funding from Microsoft to propel the development of “superintelligence,” marking a significant stride towards artificial general intelligence (AGI) that equals or surpasses human intelligence next year.
Altman emphasized the positive collaboration between OpenAI and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, highlighting the existing multi-year agreement where Microsoft invested $10 billion in 2023 when OpenAI’s valuation soared to $29 billion. Altman expressed optimism that Microsoft would continue to invest, citing the substantial funds required to achieve AGI.
To realize the ambitious goal of building AGI, Altman underscored the substantial funding required for extensive training. Despite experiencing a state of loss due to high training costs, Altman mentioned that the cooperation agreement ensures mutual benefits, making both entities content.
Altman further outlined how he allocates his time, dedicating half to contemplating the development of superintelligence and the other half to building potent computing power. OpenAI utilizes Nvidia’s advanced H100 chips for training AI models, and Altman acknowledged the challenges posed by the global shortage of H100 throughout the year.
Meanwhile, Altman acknowledged the evolving landscape of AI chips, with major players like Google, Microsoft, AMD, and Intel gearing up for competition. Altman said, “Magic capital is working, and many people want to become Huida.” However, he expressed optimism regarding improvements in the chip supply situation in 2024.
As a notable success story, Microsoft’s GitHub CEO, Thomas Dohmke, shared insights into the profitability of the AI automatic coding assistant, “Copilot.” The product, using OpenAI’s AI model, has transitioned from an experimental phase to generating positive gross profits.
“We are very satisfied with Copilot’s growing positive gross profit, said Thomas Dohmke. The cost of goods sold, that is, the total cost consumed by each user to execute Copilot, is currently lower than the price we set.”
