Sam Altman gave Axios two interviews four days apart. In the first he said the next generation of AI models would be “sobering for everybody”. In the second he said this is the best time in the world to start a company.
Both were with the same reporter, Mike Allen. Both happened around the G20 Innovation Ministerial in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Neither statement contradicts the other exactly. Read together, though, they describe the position OpenAI now has to hold.
The revenge of the idea guy
The second interview, published on Monday, is built around a phrase Altman has been testing for months. The “idea guy” is the person with a business concept and no ability to build it. Altman used to find the type absurd.
He compared it to saying: “I have a great idea for a song. I just need that guy with the guitar to make it for me.” His view has reversed. He now calls it “the revenge of the idea guys”. He told Stripe’s Patrick Collison earlier this year that he wants to fund founders who understand their users and cannot code at all.
