In case you didn’t know, Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, has been an outspoken advocate of artificial general intelligence (AGI) for over a decade – not just since the release of ChatGPT in 2022.
Also read: OpenAI in 2024: ChatGPT Search, Sora AI video, and all the big wins
Altman’s (and OpenAI’s) vision has impacted the direction of modern AI research, without a doubt, and his recent interview with Bloomberg gives some insights into his thoughts on the journey from AI to AGI. Here are few quotes from Sam Altman’s interview and what they mean for the future of humanity and technology.
“It’s impossible to overstate how nonmainstream AGI was in 2014. People were afraid to talk to me, because I was saying I wanted to start an AGI effort. It was, like, cancellable. It could ruin your career.”
In the early 2010s, the very notion of building machines that can think – or at least perform any intellectual task a human can – was often relegated to science fiction. Altman’s observation highlights just how much the landscape has changed since then. Everyone from academic researchers to large-scale tech companies is now staking their future on advancing AI.
“The pitch was just come build AGI. And the reason it worked — I cannot overstate how heretical it was at the time to say we’re gonna build AGI.”
Altman’s recruiting strategy was shockingly simple: if you wanted to focus on the real cutting edge of machine intelligence, OpenAI was the place to do it. It underscored how audacious the goal of AGI was – even among top research scientists – in the mid-2010s. Altman’s unwavering insistence on pursuing true AGI filtered out naysayers and brought in an ambitious, risk-tolerant team of researchers and engineers.
“AGI was possible, that this was the approach to bet on, and if it were possible it would be a big deal to society? That’s been remarkably true.”
From Altman’s perspective, the early hunch that AGI could grow out of deep learning was validated by rapid leaps in large language models and associated breakthroughs. In under a decade, we’ve seen neural networks transition from niche prototypes to ubiquitous technologies powering chatbots, code generators, and content creators. It reinforces Altman’s assertion that AGI is indeed a “big deal,” shaping nearly every facet of modern life.
“We are here to build AGI and superintelligence and all the things that come beyond that.”
OpenAI’s sense of purpose is summarized perfectly in this statement by Sam Altman. While many organizations are content with pushing smaller, incremental improvements, Altman makes it clear that OpenAI’s north star is AGI – and eventually, systems that surpass human capabilities (“superintelligence”).
“The very rough way I try to think about it is when an AI system can do what very skilled humans in important jobs can do — I’d call that AGI.”
Despite the hype, the precise definition of AGI remains fuzzy in popular discourse. Altman offers a simple benchmark: When AI can replicate the performance of highly skilled humans across a variety of tasks, that’s his working definition of AGI. This pragmatic yardstick bypasses philosophical debates about consciousness or creativity, focusing on capabilities. Once AI systems match or surpass the top professionals in fields like software engineering, law, and medicine, Altman believes we will have effectively reached AGI.
Also read: How is Sam Altman redefining AI beyond ChatGPT?
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Jayesh Shinde
Executive Editor at Digit. Technology journalist since Jan 2008, with stints at Indiatimes.com and PCWorld.in. Enthusiastic dad, reluctant traveler, weekend gamer, LOTR nerd, pseudo bon vivant. View Full Profile
