Altman says AI will soon be as ubiquitous as electricity
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman thinks AI is about to become as common and essential as electricity or water.
Speaking at BlackRock's US Infrastructure Summit, he said he sees a future where intelligence is a utility like electricity or water.
His comments come as people worry more about how much energy AI uses.
Altman's vision comes amid growing concerns over AI's environmental impact
Altman's vision highlights growing concerns over the environmental impact of AI.
AI companies sell tokens, the units models use to process and generate, and as demand scales up, compute becomes finite, which has driven up demand for data centers (and costs).
OpenAI backed out of a planned expansion to its Stargate project in Texas due to financing issues, showing how expensive powering AI can get.
Altman's previous controversial statements
Altman is the CEO of OpenAI. He's also known for stirring debate, such as when he dismissed claims that ChatGPT uses lots of water at a recent event.