DailyPost 2925
ALTMAN’S AI PIPEDREAM!
It cannot be denied that with ChatGPT, artificial intelligence, arrived for the world. Between 30th of Nov 2022, when ChatGPT was ushered in the public domain to this day, the world has seen a tectonic change and nearly everyone has been impacted by it directly or indirectly. OpenAI which started as a not-for-profit company to popularise AI through a research based approach and it has done its bit, in just around 7 years, from Dec 2015 to Nov 2022. Headed by Sam Altman since May 2019, it can be proverbially said, rest is history. In reality it is the beginning of the AI world.
Having registered his place in history, what role will Sam Altman play in the planet’s total transformation to the AI Age is the moot question. Sam Altam wants to play a much larger than life role, to the tune of apportioning the AI world to himself, so to say. However revolutionary the technology might be, it is the commercial / business model and the capability to execute, that brings it to life, through putting the tech infra in place and simultaneously rolling out use case after use case, at an astounding pace. The demonstrated business capability is finally what matters to have that nature of courage and finances to turn the world upside down.
There is no doubt about the fact that Sam Altman wants to pull it off. With no timelines attached to the dream, he has requested TSMC for 36 new chipmaking plants at an astounding cost of $7 trillion. OpenAI CEO’s trip for broadly this purpose last year to the Far East did not create the impression he wanted to. Recent OpenAI statements have rolled back such talks to a “mere” hundreds of billions. According to NYT’s sources TSMC execs had found Sam Altman’s ideas absurd and they had subsequently called him a “podcasting bro.” It was a general feeling among them that implementing even a fraction of his ideas would be incredibly risky.
TSMC currently operates a total 15 fabs including Taiwan, China, US and Japan. Dr.C.C. Wei, Chairman, TSMC, is quoted as saying, “Sam Altman, he’s too aggressive, too aggressive for me to believe.” NYT highlights a lot of uncertainty about OpenAI’s ambitious plans; who would put in what and what they would get from their investments is not clear. OpenAI’s business also does not inspire confidence. As it stands today, the firm has an income of approximately $3 billion per year, with an expenditure of $7 billion. The aim is to make it as the next electricity with people finding newer and better ways of using it. AI even now stands at crossroads; gaffes and delays of Microsoft’s Copilot are well documented. With all the hype of iPhone16 and 16 Pro launch enabled by AI, the first of these features won’t be available on them until next month.
HUGE TECH AND BUSINESS CREVICES OF TODAY, WOULD DEFINE THE AI OF TOMORROW.
Sanjay Sahay
Have a nice evening,