Sam Altman doesn’t want to overhype the newest model of ChatGPT, which came out Thursday.
But that’s not stopping the co-founder and CEO of OpenAI from any celebration of OpenAI o1 as an advancement in artificial intelligence: The new model can reason through complex tasks and make important contributions to science, coding and math.
“[It’s] the beginning of a significant new paradigm,” said Altman, speaking on St. Louis on the Air about the international race to develop artificial intelligence, particularly in light of previous comments from Russian President Vladimir Putin that the country that controls AI will “become the ruler of the world.”
“There's been this whole debate about, ‘Is AI capping out — are we getting close to some ceiling? Is progress going to slow down?’” Altman said. “And I think the most important message of this release is that, not only is progress not slowing down, but we have the next few years in the bag.”
Altman believes the new model will change the nature of computer programming, making programmers more efficient and helping them perform difficult tasks.
“If this new tool can help programmers be 10 times more productive, or whatever, I think we'll all get to benefit from people's creativity to an astonishingly wonderful degree,” he said.
Altman thinks AI has the potential to accelerate scientific progress. He’s put huge stock in scientific discovery’s potential to change the world and drive the economy since he was a kid growing up in St. Louis.
“This is the first time I think we're close, so I'm tremendously excited about that,” he said.
Altman’s visit to St. Louis came at a time of major activity for the tech founder. He was among several tech CEOs who met at the White House on Thursday to discuss AI energy and infrastructure. In August, OpenAI reached an agreement with the U.S. AI Safety Institute that allows the agency to access new AI models before they are released to the public.
Government regulators have said the agreement will help advance safe and trustworthy AI innovation.
Where did Sam Altman go to high school?
On Friday morning, Altman visited his alma mater, John Burroughs School in Ladue. Students and teachers interviewed Altman first in a packed schoolwide assembly and then in a smaller breakout group. They asked about AI’s effects on academic and intellectual integrity, future job prospects, gender and racial gaps in the current tech environment and disinformation.
“I love to talk to students about AI. It's amazing how much young people have sort of driven the adoption of ChatGPT and AI more broadly,” Altman said. “I love Burroughs. I had a wonderful time there, and I don't get to go back very much, but it feels great to just see my old teachers, and I have a lot of happy memories from when I was a student.”
But the comments flying at Altman weren’t universally adoring. He recalled a student’s amazement – and dejection – about the just-released OpenAI o1.
“One of the students came up to me and said, ‘I stayed up last night playing around with it, and it's too smart, like, what does this mean? What am I supposed to do with my life now? Like, what am I supposed to focus on? What should I go study in college?’”
In Altman’s mind, ChatGPT isn’t closing off opportunities. It is a new tool for people to do more than they could do before.
“That's really the story of technology and human progress more broadly,” he said. “We keep building better tools. We keep building more and more [and] our ability keeps increasing. And I think [that student] left the conversation sort of reassured and excited.”
Growing up in St. Louis
Altman has fond memories of his St. Louis childhood, which include listening to St. Louis Public Radio in the car and riding his bike in Forest Park.
“I used to do that a lot after school with my dad when I was littler and then alone and with friends as I got a little bit older,” Altman said. “It's funny how much places and sort of physical space stick out in memory. But I could still, with my eyes shut, I think, tell you every turn on that bike trail.”
Swimming at Shaw Park in the summer and frequenting the now-closed Coffee Cartel as a high schooler are strong memories for Altman.
He wants to figure out how to give back to St. Louis, but with everything being “so all out busy,” he isn’t sure how that will look. In May, Altman signed the Giving Pledge, joining a list of wealthy people who commit to donating over half their fortunes.
But don’t expect an Open AI research office in town in the near future.
“I want to figure out what the right thing is,” Altman said. “It might not be in the cards for me the next couple of years, but at some point in my life, I really want to figure that out.”
To listen to the full interview with Sam Altman, including what he looks for when hiring employees, listen to St. Louis on the Air on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or click the play button below.
This story has been updated to reflect Altman's comments about the international AI race.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Ulaa Kuziez, Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Jada Jones is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
