Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, believes criticism of AI’s energy usage is disproportionate. He argues that human civilization has consumed massive resources over millennia, often ignored in comparisons with artificial intelligence. Speaking at the AI Summit in India, Altman emphasized the importance of transitioning rapidly to sustainable energy sources like nuclear, wind, and solar.

Altman addressed concerns about the energy demand of AI, especially during the training phase of models. He dismissed claims that a single AI query has a significant energy cost, arguing that human development and education are far more energy-intensive. A single human’s development, which includes surviving evolutionary challenges and acquiring knowledge, represents a vastly larger energy expenditure than AI training.

Highlighting AI’s potential energy efficiency, Altman stated that after models are trained, AI inference requires far less energy than similar tasks performed by humans. While acknowledging the complexity in calculating these figures, OpenAI’s leader remains optimistic about AI’s future energy impacts and efficiency.

Moreover, Altman explored other implications of AI, downplaying fears of massive job displacement and suggesting AI could inspire new types of employment. He predicted the future would continue to challenge expectations of increased leisure time brought by technological advances.

Though speculative about the feasibility of space-based datacenters due to high costs and maintenance hurdles, Altman admitted a missed opportunity by not investing in OpenAI early on. Discussing peers in the tech industry, he praised Elon Musk’s engineering prowess but noted ongoing challenges in their relationship.