OpenAI Is All Hands On Advancing AGI

OpenAI is seeking additional funding from major investor Microsoft to advance artificial general intelligence (AGI).

In a Financial Times interview, the company's CEO Sam Altman expressed satisfaction with the partnership, stating that it was "working really well."

Altman anticipates further investments to address the costs of building advanced AI models.

Early this year, Microsoft invested $10 billion in OpenAI as part of a "multiyear" agreement, valuing the company at $29 billion. However, OpenAI's valuation reportedly surged to $86 billion according to the latest estimates.

Altman, optimistic about future investments, highlighted the immense computing power needed for AGI development and the training expenses needed.

Additionally, the CEO revealed the company had experienced positive revenue growth, but acknowledged its unprofitability due to high training costs.

Still, he believes the partnership with the Windows maker would make sure "that we both make money on each other’s success, and everybody is happy."

Altman's Strategy for OpenAI's Growth

OpenAI introduced new tools during its first-ever Developer Conference last week, including the new GPT-4 Turbo with 128K content, the new Assistants API, and even a GPT Store.

However, Altman clarified the company's focus, stating these new tools and features "aren't really their products." 

To strengthen his business, Altman appointed executives such as COO Brad Lightcap.

Additionally, Altman divided his focus between researching superintelligence and expanding computing power, sharing that "the vision is to make AGI, figure out how to make it safe, and figure out the benefits."

What's Next for OpenAI?

OpenAI is actively developing GPT-5, the next AI model generation.

Altman acknowledged the challenge of predicting specific capabilities, stating that "until we go train that model, it’s like a fun guessing game for us."

OpenAI's co-founder also addressed the supply crunch for Nvidia's H100 chips, expressing optimism for improved supply.

While the company excelled in generative AI with ChatGPT, its primary goal remainsto advanceg AGI.

Altman defended their focus on large language models (LLMs), stating that "LLMs are one of the core pieces for how to build AGI."

Altman ended his interview with a philosophical insight.

"There was a long period where the right thing for [Isaac] Newton to do was to read more math textbooks and talk to professors and practice problems... that’s what our current models do."

"And so the question is, what is the missing idea to go generate net new... knowledge for humanity? I think that’s the biggest thing to go work on," Altman concluded.