OpenAI CEO Sam Altman: We are now confident we will build AGI and release it this year

Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, said he recruited a team of original thinkers that was ready to deliver AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) iteratively in 2025. He added that the team was confident in building the AGI superintelligent tool that surpasses all human thinking and data processing capabilities.

Altman claimed that his team believed in the possibility of building AGI when OpenAI started. He, however, stated that there were still many unknowns and that much had yet to be understood during the early stages of this novel technology. 

Altman said he was transfixed by the idea that OpenAI would develop AGI when he became CEO in 2019, according to a Bloomberg interview report. He asserted that OpenAI’s mission was to ensure that AGI benefited all of humanity, claiming that the technology outperformed humans in almost all areas of intelligence. 

Altman claims AGI will hit the workforce in 2025

BREAKING: OpenAI's Sam Altman writes that the company has discovered "how to build AGI" and that this year "the first AI agents" will likely start joining companies to "materially change the output of companies." pic.twitter.com/Q8EdXQyH63

— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) January 6, 2025

The OpenAI CEO said in a Sunday blog post that his company was turning its attention to superintelligence because it had discovered how to build AGI. He said the product would start impacting the world this year when the first AI agents join the workforce and materially change company outputs. OpenAI believes that developing and putting AGI in the hands of people in 2025 will lead to greater and more distributed outcomes across all industries. 

Altman said OpenAI was turning to superintelligence in the ‘true sense of the word,’ saying that the team already loved their product that was ready for a glorious future. He added that with superintelligence, the world could massively accelerate scientific innovation and discovery well beyond what humans could achieve on their own. 

Altman emphasized that people would be able to see and understand his team’s vision in a few years, although it currently sounded like science fiction and crazy talk. He claimed that AGI would, in theory, dramatically outperform humans at nearly everything.

Strategic recruitment forms the foundation of OpenAI’s success 

According to Altman, one of the strengths of the original OpenAI team was recruiting top AI researchers. The billionaire CEO said the people he initially approached about building AGI were afraid to talk to him. Some even feared ruining their careers, but they mostly urged him to talk to one guy, Ilya. He disclosed that his pitch was simple: ” Come build AGI.” 

Altman said this outlandish pitch was really powerful since it filtered out 99% of the world to get the talented original thinkers. It was successful in pushing out all the senior experts in the field, leaving only the ‘ragtag’ young talents that were good to start with. Altman said most of the team members were working full time on the project ‘doing their own things’ before everyone settled in their roles. 

The OpenAI co-founder said the team’s ambitions were high and believed their work would benefit society in extraordinary ways. He pointed out that Ilya had articulated how the team would build AGI during their first dinner meeting. 

Altman was, however, quick to mention the difficulty of assembling his team. He said it was not easy convincing people to join his team to do what nobody else was doing, which narrowed his set of talents to a very small group. Altman expressed his excitement for getting the team to work together in what he called the ‘band of brothers approach.’ He further claimed he was extremely lucky to get his team together, calling it a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

From Zero to Web3 Pro: Your 90-Day Career Launch Plan