OpenAI’s Sam Altman has declared that humanity has entered a new era—one shaped by artificial superintelligence—and there’s no going back. According to Altman, “We’ve crossed the event horizon; the process is underway.” He believes the creation of digital superintelligence is now within reach, and, somewhat paradoxically, the transition has felt surprisingly ordinary so far[5][1][4].
Despite the absence of obvious signs—no robots roaming the streets, no miracle cures for disease—Altman argues that a profound transformation is already happening behind the scenes. Inside leading tech companies, systems are being developed that surpass general human intelligence in many ways. Altman notes that ChatGPT, for example, is already “more powerful than any human who has ever lived” in certain respects, with hundreds of millions relying on it daily for increasingly vital tasks[5][4]. This underscores a hidden risk: minor flaws in such widely used systems could have outsized impacts when magnified across their massive user base.
Altman has laid out a timeline for superintelligence that projects rapid progress. He expects that within a year, AI agents will be performing real cognitive work, such as advanced software development, which could fundamentally change how companies operate[2][5]. The year after, he predicts AI will generate novel insights—moving beyond processing existing knowledge to making original discoveries. By 2027, robots capable of real-world tasks could become commonplace, marking another leap forward[5]. Each step points toward systems whose intellectual abilities far exceed human potential in most domains.
“We don’t know how much further beyond human intelligence we can go, but we’re about to find out,” Altman remarks. This outlook has sparked debate among experts, some of whom argue that such capabilities are still decades away. However, Altman’s projections suggest that OpenAI may have internal evidence supporting a much faster timeline[5][1].
What sets current AI development apart is its self-reinforcing nature. Altman describes a “larval version of recursive self-improvement,” where today’s AI accelerates the creation of even more advanced systems by speeding up research. “If we can do a decade’s worth of research in a year, or even a month, the pace of progress will be radically different,” he explains. This acceleration is further fueled by economic incentives: as AI creates value, it drives infrastructure investments, which in turn enable more powerful AI. The potential for robots to build more robots could trigger an explosive cycle of growth[4][5].
Altman envisions a future where the rate of technological advancement is so rapid that it’s hard to imagine what breakthroughs might come next. By 2035, he suggests, humanity could go from solving high-energy physics to launching space colonization in just a few years[4][5].
Despite these sweeping changes, Altman believes many aspects of everyday life will remain familiar. People will still form relationships, create art, and enjoy simple pleasures. However, he warns that “whole classes of jobs” could disappear faster than society can adapt, challenging our ability to retrain workers and create new roles. On the upside, he notes that the world could become so much wealthier so quickly that once-unthinkable policy ideas might become feasible[4][5].
Altman also highlights the critical challenge of alignment: ensuring superintelligent systems act in accordance with humanity’s long-term values. “We need to robustly guarantee that AI systems learn and act toward what we collectively really want,” he says. This is not just a technical issue but an existential one, requiring global consensus on what those values should be—a daunting task in a diverse world[4][5].
He describes OpenAI’s mission as building “a brain for the world”—not just metaphorically, but literally, with cognitive systems poised to integrate into every aspect of human civilization. Altman predicts that superintelligence will soon be as affordable and ubiquitous as electricity, a prospect that would have seemed like science fiction just a few years ago[5][4].
As the AI industry charges ahead, Altman’s closing wish is for a smooth, uneventful transition through the era of superintelligence—acknowledging that while timelines may be disputed, the race toward superintelligence is undeniably underway. The challenge now is for humanity to grapple with the implications and prepare for a future that is both thrilling and uncertain[5][1][4].
