Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, has faced significant backlash online after he commented on how “quite terrible” it is that average individuals are consuming the world’s limited supply of computer memory, instead of utilizing it more effectively in the cloud.
Altman made these surprising statements in a recent interview with Stripe President John Collison during an episode of “Cheeky Pint” on YouTube, where they discuss various topics while enjoying beers with entrepreneurs and industry leaders.
He expressed concern over the substantial amount of DRAM, a type of memory present in devices like PCs, laptops, and smartphones, that is being used by the general public.
According to Altman, the typical user only taps into their DRAM about 5% of the time, suggesting that the world’s memory resources should be better utilized, especially in what he referred to as a “very supply constrained environment.”
His remarks sparked a wave of criticism online, with many viewers accusing him of advocating for computer memory to be reserved for AI data centers, rather than being accessible to everyday users.
One commenter pointed out the irony, saying, “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.”
Another chimed in with, “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.’”
Altman doubled down on his assertions, noting that “somehow, many people’s intuition is the opposite” of wanting to make the most of cloud resources.
Critics interpreted his comments as an indication that OpenAI and other technology companies should have a larger share of global memory resources instead of it being allocated to personal devices.
In the same discussion, Altman promoted his company’s AI services, claiming that more people are willing to leverage artificial intelligence to enhance their work efficiency.
“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,” he stated during the interview.
This criticism of Altman comes as OpenAI encounters increasing scrutiny over its heavy spending and the resources required for its AI initiatives.
Recently, the Financial Times reported that OpenAI had reduced its fundraising target by $10 billion, changing its goal from $30 billion to a valuation of $1.4 trillion.
