OpenAI is transforming from a research lab into a vertically integrated "AI empire."

Written by: Long Yue

OpenAI is transforming from a research lab into a vertically integrated "AI empire."

On October 8, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman revealed in a recent conversation with Ben Horowitz, co-founder of the well-known venture capital firm a16z, that OpenAI has decided to make a "very aggressive infrastructure bet," the scale of which requires the entire industry to participate.

He explained that this decision is based on strong confidence in the capabilities of models in the next one to two years, as they foresee that upcoming models will create tremendous economic value, while the current pace of expansion cannot meet future demand.

This strategy directly explains OpenAI's recent series of collaborations with tech giants like NVIDIA, Oracle, and AMD. Altman hinted that more such collaborations will be announced in the coming months, indicating that they are trying to leverage the entire industry chain "from electronics to model distribution."

This may also mean that the AI race is shifting from algorithms to an all-encompassing struggle concerning computing power, capital, and energy.

Altman also directly linked the future of AI with the future of energy, pointing out that the exponential growth of AI will require cheaper and more abundant energy. He predicts that the long-term solution will be a combination of solar energy with storage and advanced nuclear energy, asserting that the cost of nuclear energy will be a key variable in determining whether it can be rapidly adopted and thus support the development of AI.

When discussing the company's vision, Altman stated that OpenAI is not just a research lab, but a complex that integrates consumer AI subscription services, large-scale infrastructure operations, and cutting-edge AI research, dedicated to building artificial general intelligence (AGI) and making it beneficial to humanity.

Key points from Sam Altman's interview:

• Aggressive infrastructure bet: Altman revealed that the company is making a "very aggressive infrastructure bet," the scale of which requires the entire industry to collaborate. This massive investment is based on strong confidence in the capabilities of models in the next one to two years, rather than current models, and he forecasted that more industry collaborations will be announced in the coming months.
• Energy future blueprint: Altman pointed out that AI and energy have "merged into one," and the exponential growth of AI will depend on cheaper and more abundant energy. He predicts that future energy will be dominated by "solar energy + storage" and nuclear energy. He believes that once nuclear energy demonstrates "overwhelming economic advantages," its development will be extremely rapid, and he called past decisions to restrict nuclear energy "an extremely foolish decision."
• Strategic position of Sora: Sora is not just a video generation tool, but also a strategic tool for building "world models" to advance AGI and help society adapt to AI development.
• The arrival of "AI scientists": Altman predicts that AI models will be able to make significant scientific discoveries within the next two years, which he sees as a true sign of AI changing the world. He revealed that GPT-5 has already begun to show the ability to make small, novel scientific discoveries.
• Strategic shift to vertical integration: Altman admitted that his past views on vertical integration were wrong, and he now believes it is a necessary path for OpenAI to achieve its mission, likening it to the success of Apple's iPhone.
• New copyright model: He foresees that future AI training may be considered fair use, but using specific IP to generate content will give rise to new business models. Some copyright holders are even more concerned about their IP not being fully utilized by AI rather than being overused.
• Commercialization and trust: Regarding commercialization, Altman holds an open but cautious attitude towards advertising, emphasizing that trust in ChatGPT must never be compromised. He believes that recommending paid products instead of the best products would destroy this trust relationship.

"Very aggressive gamble": Infrastructure expansion based on future demand

Amid current doubts about whether AI is in a bubble, Altman's statement undoubtedly adds fuel to the market's enthusiasm. He bluntly stated, "We have decided that it is time to make a very aggressive infrastructure bet."

This decision is not based on the current demand for products like ChatGPT, but rather on a firm optimism about the future. Altman revealed, "The reason we are so aggressive is not because of the existing models we have… We can see (the future model capabilities) one to two years in advance." He believes that the economic value that upcoming models can create will far exceed expectations, thus necessitating early planning.

The scale of this gamble is so large that it requires support from the entire industry. Altman stated, "To bet at this scale, we somewhat need the entire industry… to support it." This encompasses "everything from electronics to model distribution and everything in between."

This also explains why OpenAI is actively establishing partnerships with companies like AMD, Oracle, and NVIDIA. He further hinted that this is just the beginning, saying, "In the coming months, you should see more actions from us."

The lifeblood of AI: The future of nuclear and solar energy

Altman admitted that the two areas he is most concerned about in his career—AI and energy—have now "merged into one." He believes that looking back at history, the most significant factor in improving the quality of human life has been cheaper and more abundant energy. The enormous computing power demands of AI are pushing the energy issue to the forefront.

Regarding how to address future energy demands, Altman provided a clear roadmap. He expects that in the short term, the new baseload energy in the U.S. will mainly come from natural gas. However, in the long run, he believes that "the two dominant energy sources will be solar energy plus storage and nuclear energy." The nuclear energy he refers to includes the entire advanced nuclear technology stack, including small modular reactors (SMRs) and nuclear fusion.

On the development of nuclear energy, Altman presented a key economic perspective. He believes that the speed of nuclear energy adoption entirely depends on its cost. "If it has overwhelming advantages economically compared to everything else, then I expect it to happen very quickly."

He added that at that time, significant political pressure will drive regulators to act quickly. Conversely, if its costs are similar to other energy sources, anti-nuclear sentiment may make its development process extremely lengthy. He did not shy away from calling past decisions to ban nuclear energy in many regions "an extremely foolish decision."

The strategic value of Sora: More than just video generation

Regarding the recently released text-to-video model Sora, Altman also elaborated on its multiple roles in the company's strategy. He believes that Sora may seem unrelated to artificial general intelligence (AGI) on the surface, but he is convinced that building strong "world models" is far more important for achieving AGI than people realize.

Additionally, Sora is an important tool for OpenAI to guide society and technology to "co-evolve." Altman stated that just as ChatGPT made the world start to take large language models seriously, Sora can help society anticipate the impacts and opportunities that powerful video models will soon bring. "It is very important for the world to understand the direction of video technology development," he said.

Of course, Sora also brings new commercialization challenges. Altman observed that users are not only using it for professional creation but also for making fun memes and sharing them. The contradiction between high generation costs and frequent entertainment use means that OpenAI needs to explore a business model for Sora that is entirely different from that of ChatGPT.

Catalyst for AGI: The arrival of "AI scientists"

Among all potential applications of AI, Altman stated that he is "most excited" about "AI scientists." He believes that when AI can independently make scientific discoveries, the world will undergo real change.

"We have seen small examples of this happening for the first time in GPT-5," he revealed. He observed that the model has already been able to make some novel mathematical discoveries or achieve small advances in physics and biology research, and he believes this trend will go further.

He predicts that within the next two years, models will be able to undertake larger chunks of scientific work and make significant discoveries, which will have a "major impact" on the world.

From investor to operator: A cognitive shift towards vertical integration

In the interview, Altman also reflected on his transition from investor to company operator and its impact on OpenAI's strategy. He admitted that he had always opposed vertical integration, but "now I think I was wrong at that time."

He attributed this cognitive shift to the practical experience of running a company. As an investor, he was more inclined towards theoretical market efficiency, where each company only does one thing. However, as CEO, he realized that to achieve the company's mission, he must personally do more than expected. The tremendous success of Apple's iPhone is a prime example of extreme vertical integration, which Altman referred to as "the most incredible product in the history of the tech industry."

This shift in thinking from "advising" to "executing" explains why OpenAI has gradually expanded from a purely research lab to building its own large-scale infrastructure, striving to control the full-stack capabilities from underlying computing power to upper-layer applications, laying the foundation for its grand AI empire.

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