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.
Why does he keep calling it “intelligence”? It’s not intelligent. Even calling it AI is a stretch. It’s an LLM.
Also, intelligence already means something else. When phrased like it is in this context, it sounds like he’s talking about selling espionage.
But then again, telemetry and adware are essentially espionage. So maybe that is what he means…