According to the head of OpenAI, the industry's favorite argument—that artificial intelligence will one day cure cancer—is not enough. He said that he does not consider curing cancer a sufficiently ambitious goal. While it would be wonderful, humanity should aim higher. He spoke about this a day after his company released its new Astra model.
A terrible job, Altman admits
According to Altman, the technology industry has done a poor job of explaining the benefits of artificial intelligence, and OpenAI has reportedly done no better. In doing so, he agreed with criticism voiced by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent at a G20 meeting. According to Altman, companies have talked too much about potential risks and too little about what the technology will actually bring to people. A vague promise of curing cancer cannot fill this communication gap.
Some people in the industry portray the future as an era of abundance in which no one will have to work and medicine will develop treatments for diseases that are currently incurable. Altman argues that such a vision underestimates the technology's potential. He speaks instead of a surge in creativity and entrepreneurship, with people creating useful things for one another, and complains that this part of the message has disappeared entirely from public discourse. In doing so, he returns to the same theme. Altman emphasized that it is crucial for them that this technology give people more autonomy and influence, not less. According to him, people are right to be afraid when they feel that industry leaders do not want them to have autonomy.
The sentiment Altman is responding to is clearly illustrated by a Pew Research Center survey. Approximately forty percent of Americans expect artificial intelligence to have a negative impact on society, while only sixteen percent predict a positive impact. This skepticism is fueled by disputes surrounding the construction of data centers, which has become a politically sensitive issue, blanket bans on artificial intelligence tools in some school districts, and growing concerns about people's own jobs.
At the same time, Altman rejects the idea that the technology sector should avoid difficult questions. According to him, potential dangers must be discussed, but not with the aim of spreading panic or using safety concerns to centralize power. He said that companies intended to highlight the risks, but the result has sometimes been to frighten the public unnecessarily.
Anthropic's CEO sees it differently
However, the OpenAI CEO's position clashes with a statement published by Dario Amodei, CEO of rival company Anthropic. According to him, the claim that artificial intelligence will cure cancer is now more of a cliché than a genuine source of inspiration, and it sounds misleading to most people. Amodei says the most accurate criticism of technology companies, including his own, is that no one has yet delivered on their grand promises of worldwide benefits. He therefore does not see better communication as the solution. He wrote that the only thing that will truly work is actually curing cancer.
Altman himself has relied on the cancer argument in the past. In previous years, he wrote on his blog that with sufficient computing power, artificial intelligence could find a way to treat cancer. However, he agrees with his rival on one point: avoiding difficult debates about risks helps no one.
The cost of AI
Asked about cost, Altman said in the interview that OpenAI's goal is highly capable, inexpensive, and widely accessible intelligence. He pointed to the Astra model's efficient use of tokens and the recent eighty-percent price reduction for the smaller Luna model. According to him, the company will continue driving down the price-to-performance ratio across its entire product range. Meanwhile, the company's revenue should continue to grow because the market opportunity is enormous.
Regarding a potential initial public offering, the OpenAI CEO said that he expects the company to take this step at some point in the future. He added that OpenAI will remain a mission-first company that plans with a long-term horizon spanning decades.
Sources: businessinsider.com and thenews.com
