Sam Altman in recent interviews has recently responded to questions regarding Open AI new model, GPT-4o, as well as other AI related questions. In our in-depth review of Sam Altman latest interviews we focus on some of the most discussed subjects such as Open AI's vision for a new AGI World, the GPT-4o model, AI girlfriends and more.

1. PDoom

Recently, Sam Altman was confronted with the question of what were the "odds of AI eliminating all human life", which many people in the field reference as PDoom (Probability of Doom).

In his response, Altman criticized the "construct of having people rate their doomsday predictions from one to 100. Whether you think it’s 2, or 10, or 90, it’s not zero,”.

"Society always holds space for doomsayers", he said, also suggesting that instead of rating our potential for doom, we should be asking key questions that might help us to avoid an AI disaster."

"What needs to happen to navigate safely?" he said. "Take it in, confront it, take it seriously."

Sam also believes that, at some point, AI will pose significant catastrophic risks to the world, but when this happens, regulatory oversight will be helpful. However, he said that would be a shame to regulate it prematurely because of the tremendous upsides of the technology.

2. GPT-4o

Last week OpenAI probably unveiled its most surprising development to date: GPT-4o. The new model version was presented as a series of demos that showcased a multimodal model that integrates text with vision and voice in an emotional and realtime conversation.

The new GPT-4o integrates voice, video, and text in a way to make interactions with AI more natural. The model will understand text, as well as respond to audio and visual inputs in order to make interactions with AI more human-like.

Talking about GPT-4o, Altman said that "we've had like the idea of voice control computers for a long time they've never to me felt natural to use and this one, the fluidity, the pliability, whatever you want to call it, I just can't believe how much I love using it".

Altman also stated the fact that GPT-4o also has reduced response time as it can react to queries in milliseconds, which is necessary to natural conversation pace, as the the company said in their presentation.

He also expressed his surprise at the capabilities of GPT-4o, likening it to "AI from the movies." In his blog, Altman has referred that "the new voice (and video) mode is the best compute interface I’ve ever used. It feels like AI from the movies; and it’s still a bit surprising to me that it’s real. Getting to human-level response times and expressiveness turns out to be a big change."

ChatGPT-4o is 50% cheaper and twice as fast as GPT-4 turbo. Open AI is making the new model available to all users, bringing "GPT 4 class intelligence" to free customers. Paid users will still have up to five times the capacity limits.

3. Samantha and AI Girlfriends

Many industry commentators have said that the GPT-4o demo, was basically "Samantha" from the movie "Her". With the added feature of the model being able to perceive and interpret our world.

About AI girlfriends, Altman dismissed the idea because he believes that humans are inherently wired to care deeply about other humans. "Our obsession with other people is too strong, and we just aren’t as emotionally invested in AI relationships."

However, he later added that he believes we should design a future where humans and AIs can work together seamlessly, and that he is particularly excited about humanoid robots because the world is already designed for humans, and he doesn’t want that to change. He also envisions AIs communicating with us in human-optimized language and even interacting with each other in the same way.

4. The Ousting from Open AI

Last November, Sam Altman was abruptly fired by his company’s board of directors in a major coup. Altman described the moments from the firing to his return as an "insane, superjammed" 4½ days where his body was in an "adrenaline-charged state."

However, within a day of being fired, world leaders started texting, having received messages from 10 to 20 presidents and prime ministers.

Once he got his job back, reality hit him. Stopping at a diner, he realized he hadn't eaten in days. He then celebrated with a feast: four "heavy" meals and two milkshakes (just for him!).

Reflecting on this time, he said that "We can get used to anything as the new normal, good or bad, pretty fast," He sees this as a strength – humans can adapt to almost anything.

5. The Future of Open AI

Talking about the initial vision for Open AI and how it has eveloved, he stated, 'We are a business and we will identify numerous opportunities to monetize our services. This will enable us to offer free, exceptional AI services to, hopefully, billions of people."

Sam Altman also highlighted the potential of the new voice and video modes in the updated version, noting that these advancements make interactions with computers feel genuinely natural for him."

Talking about the initial vision for OpenAI and how it has evolved, he said, “We are a business and will find plenty of things to charge for, and that will help us provide free, outstanding AI service to (hopefully) billions of people.”

On the question if there will be a clear moment when AGI emerges, Altman thinks that "it will be a gradual progression, with no consensus on when it happens".

"It’s not GPT-4 and probably won’t be GPT-5, but we’re probably only a couple of breakthroughs away from AGI."