Sam Altman on Stargate, Humanoid Robots and OpenAI's Future | The Circuit with Emily Chang

AI Infrastructure and Compute Demand - OpenAI recognizes the shift from compute for model training to compute for model usage, highlighting the need for significant infrastructure investment [1][2] - The company is experiencing high demand for its AI services, constrained by available compute resources, and could utilize twice its current capacity to improve product offerings [10] - OpenAI estimates needing $500 billion in compute capacity over the next few years to support growth projections, but is unsure if it could profitably deploy $1 trillion [11] - The company acknowledges a GPU shortage impacting its ability to handle demand surges and launch new features [13][16][17][18] - More compute directly translates to the ability to provide more AI capabilities for various applications [19] Strategic Partnerships and Investments - OpenAI is collaborating with Microsoft for compute resources, but believes the scale of its needs exceeds what any single company can provide [3][6] - The company has partnered with SoftBank for financial support and Oracle for technical expertise in the Stargate project [6] - OpenAI has raised tens of billions of dollars in funding and expresses confidence in its financial sustainability and profitability [12] Technological Advancements and Competition - OpenAI emphasizes the importance of both the infrastructure layer and the top-of-stack (AI models) as its competitive edge [20] - The company acknowledges the existence of other good AI models but highlights that ChatGPT has significantly more users than any other AI service [20] - OpenAI is focused on optimizing all aspects of its AI infrastructure, including chips, energy sources, and algorithms [33] Future Vision and Societal Impact - OpenAI's grand vision is to provide people with tools to enhance their capabilities and creativity [21][22] - The company is particularly excited about the potential of AI for scientific discovery, anticipating significant progress in 2026 [22][23] - OpenAI acknowledges the potential for AI to displace jobs but believes it will also create new opportunities, albeit at a rapid pace [25][26][27][28] - The company aims to make decisions that benefit humanity as a whole, particularly with the advent of humanoid robots [39]