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.

  • vividspecter@aussie.zoneEnglish
    2·
    3 hours ago

    I think they are hoping they can make a bunch of businesses so dependent on them that they can’t afford to leave. Which could work, but probably not enough for them to become profitable.

    On the individual side, maybe they are hoping to exploit a bunch of whales but I can’t see people on average be willing to pay for what it actually costs.