OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced on February 9, 2025, an initiative to establish a new system for allocating computing resources, targeting a more equitable distribution of AI technologies. The plan includes an unprecedented $40 billion capital raise and an additional $500 billion investment with partners to develop AI infrastructure.
According to Altman, technological progress generally improves health and economic indicators, but new approaches are needed to reduce inequalities. Behind the "compute budget" initiative is the growing problem of concentration of AI technologies, which is already resulting in significant labor market transformations, leading to the downsizing of departments and job losses. As part of its collaboration with Microsoft, the company plans to build a system that democratizes access to computing capacity. In his blog post, Altman emphasized that historical experience shows that while most metrics we care about (health outcomes, economic prosperity, etc.) improve on average and in the long run, increasing equality does not seem technologically determined, and solving this may require new ideas.
As part of the planned changes, OpenAI aims to increase transparency and the proportion of open-source developments while also introducing restrictions to ensure the safe use of AI. The company aims for revenue of $100 billion by 2029, equivalent to the current annual turnover of Target and Nestlé, while according to the CEO, the cost of using AI decreases by approximately tenfold each year, enabling wider adoption of the technology.
Sources:
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Kyle Wiggers
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Emma Job
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Mackenzie Ferguson
