OpenAI boss Sam Altman is getting roasted online after suggesting it’s “quite terrible” that ordinary people are using up the world’s limited supply of computer memory instead of putting it to better use in the cloud.
The Bay Area tech billionaire made the eyebrow-raising remarks during a recent interview with Stripe President John Collison on his YouTube show, “Cheeky Pint,” where the pair chat over beers with founders, builders and business leaders.
Altman took issue with people using “a bunch” of the world’s limited supply of DRAM, a type of memory commonly found in PCs, laptops, smartphones and tablets.
The OpenAI chief argued that because the average person only uses their DRAM about 5% of the time, the world’s supply should be put to maximum use — particularly in what he described as a “very supply constrained environment.”
The comments quickly set off a RAMpage online, with viewers accusing Altman of suggesting that computer memory belongs in AI data centers rather than in the hands of everyday consumers.
“Bro’s talking about the ‘world’s limited supply of DRAM’ like he isn’t personally responsible for the world’s supply of DRAM being limited,” one commenter wrote.
“The guy really went and basically openly said ‘It’s actually quite terrible that normal people have Ram in their computers because from my perspective it should all belong to me,’” another comment read.
Altman continued his RAMpage by adding that “somehow, many people’s intuition is the opposite” of wanting to maximize the utilization of the cloud.
Critics seized on the remarks as an apparent argument that OpenAI and other tech giants should have greater access to the world’s memory supply, rather than leaving so much of it sitting in personal computers.
The OpenAI CEO also used the conversation to tout his company’s AI tools, arguing that people are increasingly willing to turn to artificial intelligence to improve the way they work.
“We have a culture where people, even if they’ve done something the old-fashioned way for a long time, are super willing to try using AI to do it better,” Altman said in the interview.
The backlash comes as OpenAI faces growing scrutiny over its enormous spending ambitions and the resources needed to power its artificial intelligence operations.
The Financial Times reported Friday evening that OpenAI had slashed its fundraising target by $10 billion. The company had previously aimed to raise $30 billion at a $1.4 trillion valuation.
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