OpenAI’s recent announcement of a $10 billion partnership with a handful of funders. Together, they intend to spend $500 billion building new data centers across the continental U.S. This ambitious plan is a critical step toward fortifying OpenAI’s infrastructure. It will fund the continued development of ChatGPT, which has quickly become the poster child of artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
The announcement also comes amid increasing tech industry tension. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, has had a tumultuous relationship with Elon Musk, characterized by public disputes and even threats of physical confrontations in a cage match. Of course, today Musk is engaged in a pitched legal battle with Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI. The latest lawsuit centers on the establishment and future course of the company.
In a recent interview on Jack’s podcast, Altman spoke about the emerging competition between OpenAI and Meta. He acknowledged Meta’s aggressive strategies in the AI space and expressed skepticism about the company’s innovation capabilities.
“There’s many things I respect about Meta as a company, but I don’t think they’re a company that’s, like, great at innovation,” said Altman.
Altman noted that although Meta has been active in its pursuit of AI, he believes it has “been so off their game in terms of not really releasing many innovative things.” He touted OpenAI’s competitively advantageous position in the emergent AI market. He could say with complete assurance that his “best people” decided to remain with the company.
He offered up his opinion that the goal of developing superintelligence is one of the big attracts to workers at OpenAI. Altman went on to explain that this mission serves to attract top talent and holds the possibility of giant economic dividends down the line.
Zuckerberg has praised Apple’s iPhone as “obviously one of the most important inventions probably of all time” during his appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast. This celebration of Apple’s innovation underscores the current race between tech titans for spectacular innovations.
Altman emphasized the need to pursue superintelligence as the next frontier of AI development. He believes that OpenAI has “a much better shot at actually delivering on superintelligence, and may eventually be the more valuable company.”
As tech leaders have begun to realize, podcasts offer an easy way to position yourself and raise the specter of your competition. Altman’s attacks on OpenAI come in the context of a new trend where industry executives turn prophets of doom on competing companies.
As OpenAI continues on its bold path and Meta takes the gloves off and enters the race, the tech world is changing faster than the eye can see. The competition between these two mega-giants is getting fierce. They are going further to be innovative, strategic with their investments, and true to their individual missions in this new AI landscape.