In a recent development surrounding AI giant OpenAI's proprietary chip and its next-generation large language model, GPT-5, CEO Sam Altman has expressed his eagerness for collaboration with South Korean manufacturers.
During an event held at OpenAI's headquarters in San Francisco, Altman stated his determination to build Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) "at all costs."
When asked about the possibility of fabricating AI chips with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, Altman remarked, "I would love to. They're just great companies... I'm really excited to see them."
Altman visited South Korea in June last year and again in January, where he reportedly met with Korean chipmakers including SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics to discuss AI chip partnerships.
"We want to build AGI and we're going to do anything we can to do that, whether it's building it ourselves or doing it with partners," Altman stated. "We want to minimize the ancillary work that goes into building AGI, and that will probably drive a decision on whether or not we build our own silicon team."
Regarding his aspirations for the advent of AGI, Altman expressed his anticipation for scientific breakthroughs. "The AI model is really going to help accelerate scientific discovery... (AI-driven scientific findings) are the only sustainable driver for long-term economic growth," he said.
He also predicted that AI's learning trajectory is so rapid that man-made data may eventually become insufficient.
"We may hit data bottlenecks at some point. It may or may not be surmountable," Altman said. "But over the long term, it's clear that human-generated data will not be enough... We need a model that can learn more with less data."
On the topic of AI agents that understand humans and displace jobs, Altman acknowledged that it's still a distant prospect. "The (AI agents) will have to do more and more work on the network eventually," he said.
As for GPT-5, Altman said, "I don't know exactly when it's coming out and I don't know how good it will be, but I expect the next model to be a massive upgrade."
He remarked, "There's a lot of skepticism that GPT has limitations, and I will say with confidence that the next model is going to be a step function up. We're very excited about advanced reasoning, which we've been working towards for a long time."
Altman emphasized that startups underestimating the potential of GPT-5 may find themselves strategically disadvantaged.
At an event featuring 14 Korean startups handpicked from 220 applicants by OpenAI and the Korean Ministry of SMEs and Startups, Altman emphasized the significance of adhering to fundamental business principles and cautioned against over-reliance on technology.
"I think it's a big mistake for startups to think that somehow they can be successful because they have some hot technology or that the normal rules don't apply, and it doesn't mean the normal rules of business of going out and hiring great people and building don't apply," stated Altman.
Amidst reports that Altman was seeking to raise a staggering $700 billion from the Middle East to fund the company's semiconductor initiative, rivaling NVIDIA, Altman clarified in a recent interview that he never said, "I'm going to raise $700 billion." He emphasized, "I did say, 'Compute is going to be the currency of the future, it's going to be the most valuable thing in the world, and we should invest aggressively in it.'"
Notably, on March 18, NVIDIA unveiled its "world's most powerful" AI chip, the new Blackwell architecture, surpassing its predecessor in both performance and power efficiency. Jensen Huang anticipates widespread adoption by companies, including OpenAI.
(Original Article Title: OpenAI's Altman: Hopes Samsung and SK Hynix Will Produce AI Chips, GPT-5 to See Significant Improvement)
