OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently published a new essay on his personal blog, discussing the company’s efforts to make artificial intelligence (AI) more accessible and equitable for everyone on Earth. In the essay, Altman highlights the importance of ensuring that the benefits of AI are widely distributed, including increasing economic prosperity and improving health outcomes.

Altman notes that the historical impact of technological progress suggests that most of the metrics we care about, such as health outcomes and economic prosperity, tend to improve over time. However, he also emphasizes that increasing equality is not technologically determined and requires new ideas and interventions to achieve. In particular, Altman is concerned about the balance of power between capital and labor, which could become skewed with the rise of AI, and believes that early intervention is necessary to mitigate this risk.Solutions to this problem, such as Altman’s “compute budget” concept, aim to make AI more affordable and accessible to individuals and organizations. Already, AI is impacting the labor market, resulting in job losses and departmental downsizing, according to various reports. Experts have warned that mass unemployment is a possible outcome of the rise of AI technology if not accompanied by the right government policies and reskilling programs.

Altman also emphasizes the potential for artificial general intelligence (AGI) to significantly impact the world. AGI refers to an AI system that can tackle complex problems at a human level in various fields. However, Altman notes that AGI will not be perfect and may require significant human supervision and direction. Moreover, the real value of AGI lies in its ability to be deployed on a massive scale, with Altman envisioning thousands or even millions of highly capable AI systems working across various fields.

The cost of developing and deploying AGI is a significant concern, with Altman stating that massive investments will be required to achieve AGI-level AI. However, he also notes that the cost of using AI is decreasing over time, with capable, inexpensive AI models becoming increasingly available. OpenAI is reportedly in talks to raise $40 billion in funding and has pledged to spend up to $500 billion with partners on an enormous data network.

As OpenAI moves towards becoming a profit-driven organization, Altman’s goal is to “trend more towards individual empowerment” while preventing AI from being used by authoritarian governments to control populations. He believes that OpenAI has made mistakes in the past, such as open-sourcing its technologies, and acknowledges that a balance between safety and individual empowerment will require trade-offs.

Altman emphasizes that AI will permeate every aspect of the economy and society, and that individuals will need to have more control over the technology. He also highlights the need for science-based AI policies rather than relying on science fiction-inspired ideals. The comments come ahead of this week’s AI Action Summit in Paris, where other tech leaders will be outlining their visions for the future of AI.

In a footnote, Altman clarifies that OpenAI does not plan to end its partnership with Microsoft anytime soon. The two companies have a contractual definition of AGI, which would allow OpenAI to negotiate more favorable investment terms, but Altman reassures that the partnership will continue in the long term.