OpenAI CEO Sam Altman expressed concerns about the AI infrastructure boom, calling it 'unsustainable silliness.' He pointed to neocloud providers announcing massive compute capacity without the revenue or customers to justify it. Altman emphasized that OpenAI's expansion is profitable and backed by real demand, unlike many others who have a 'cost is no object' mindset.
Altman warned that OpenAI's own progress could make things worse. If the company cuts costs and boosts efficiency fast enough, today's expensive buildouts could turn into bad bets. A broad downturn could also strain OpenAI's ability to pay for capacity it already committed to, though he considers that risk manageable.
OpenAI won't sell compute to third parties yet, but Altman didn't categorically rule it out. Whether his stance on compute has fundamentally shifted is hard to tell from these comments. But his tone is noticeably more cautious than before, when Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei accused him of 'YOLO'-ing money into the compute buildout.
"We're just going to build out crazy amounts of compute even at higher prices for it," said Sam Altman, OpenAI CEO. Altman added that OpenAI's expansion is profitable and backed by real demand, unlike many others who have a 'cost is no object' mindset.
The announcement follows a broader trend of reckless expansion in the AI infrastructure space. Altman's comments highlight growing concerns about the sustainability of current compute buildout strategies.
OpenAI did not say when it might start selling compute to third parties, and Altman raised questions about the long-term viability of current compute strategies. The company said it will continue to monitor the situation and adjust its approach accordingly.
Source: thedecoder
