OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman says artificial intelligence could drive the economy into an era of radical abundance, but warns that society must solve a new problem.
In an interview with venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, Altman says AI is likely to make many goods and services cheaper amid an economy driven by deflation rather than inflation.
He paints a picture of everyday essentials becoming universally affordable.
“I think it should be hugely, I hope it’s deflationary, I think it should be…
I hope that things like water and food and healthcare and education and access to nature and time with family and whatever else, I hope that becomes something that everyone can afford.”
But Altman suggested that human behavior will still seek out new markers of value and prestige. For him, the paradox is clear: AI could make most things cheaper, yet unleash new forms of excess in luxury or status markets.
“And then that we all find the silliest status games to play and go bid up… Da Vinci paintings to a trillion dollars or whatever, or galaxies to a quadrillion dollars. People who like want to play status games and want to create value for other people and want to have something for bragging rights basically get to go do that.”
He also says that a deflationary world will create massive abundance, but he admitted he has no idea where the new wealth would flow.
“But I think it is an interesting question about like, if we want everything to deflate wildly, if we want everything to get super cheap, and people are, you know, wildly ambitious and creative and like being useful, they’re gonna work hard and we’re gonna have some way to keep track of that, where is the excess wealth gonna go?
And I think that’s like a very interesting design problem.”
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