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.

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.

  • sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    18·
    3 hours ago

    Oh its a utility?

    … so it should be publically owned and operated?

    He didn’t even say ‘like’ or ‘akin to’ a utility.

    He said ‘is a utility’.

    … So then democracratize it.

    And yeah, if WiFi is like that too, then yeah, lets have the public manage that as well.

    … I wonder if ChatGPT can draw Altman looking at a broken clock being right twice a day.

    • 4am@lemmy.zipEnglish
      1·
      45 seconds ago

      WiFi is not a utility. Perhaps cellular service and fiber to the home should be, though.

      WiFi is just the radio that gets you from your device to your router. It’s not the internet. Yes it’s an important distinction. Words have meanings. No, YOU’RE not being pedantic enough! 😤