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.

  • stickyprimer@lemmy.worldEnglish
    14·
    3 days ago

    I don’t see any gate here though. Knowledge remains available through old fashioned means.

    • baronvonj@piefed.socialEnglish
      6·
      3 days ago

      But they don’t want it to remain so. They want to their agents to be used as educators in place of traditional education. Look at what Google just announced for Gemini answers to start fully replacing actual search results. They want to be your only sources for information. Then they can make sure it’s the information they want you to have, rather than an unbiased source of actual information.

      • stickyprimer@lemmy.worldEnglish
        13·
        3 days ago

        Yea of course people would like to be able to charge you for the air you breathe. That doesn’t mean they are or even could. I have a hard time imagining how Sam Altman is going to block me from gaining knowledge through other means.