OpenAI’s intends to realize the goal of AGI — the point at which AI capabilities supercede those of a human being. This is a point of contention — the timeline prediction ranges from a decade to eternity — not foreseeable in near future. Even AGI has not been defined precisely.

Investments of billions of dollars is pouring into the infrastructure for AI, and the stakes are high as we may be many years away from pay-back.

Sam Altman is optimistic. In this week (November 2024), at Reddit AMA, he claimed that AGI is achievable with current hardware. It is expected of a CEO of a major AI company who is committed to achieve AGI. Still, even by Altman’s standards, it is an overambitious statement. It simply means that the current capital outlay of OpenAI will soon pay back. Still, it is not clear what he means by the current hardware.

It is tantamount to saying by Tesla a decade bulk that the company would place an autonomous car, and still the best of Tesla’s self-driving cars needs to be monitored by a human driver.

It is in the interest of OpenAI to claim that the present capital outlay ensures a bright future, and builds up the valuation of the company, and elicits investor interest.

It is audacious for Altman to claim that superintelligence is a mere ‘ a few thousand days’ away. It is so frivolous. Of course, it will take longer, but he is confident he will reach there.