In a high-profile fireside chat at the Federal Reserve in Washington, D.C., OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sat down with Fed Vice Chair Michelle Bowman to sketch a sweeping vision of artificial intelligence and its implications for finance, employment, and society at large. The conversation, at the Fed’s Integrated Review of the Capital Framework for Large Banks Conference, covered the acceleration of AI adoption, productivity booms, looming risks, and why Altman thinks banks—and regulators—must rethink their approach to innovation.
Altman recounted the astonishing velocity of AI development and acceptance. “Only five years ago, AI was still thought of as something that was in the distant future,” he remarked, highlighting the dramatic changes since ChatGPT’s launch in November 2022. Since then, AI has leaped from niche to necessity, with new models achieving “gold-level performance” in tasks once reserved for elite human experts.
Productivity stories are pouring in from scientists and engineers: “We’re now hearing from scientists saying they’re two, three times more productive. We’re hearing from computer programmers that say they’re 10 times more productive. That’s completely changed what it means to write software.”
