searchlore

Back to Resource

All Segments

Sam Altman on Sora, Energy, and Building an AI Empire

Sam Altman on Sora, Energy, and Building an AI Empire

15 segments available

Sam Altman has led OpenAI from its founding as a research nonprofit in 2015 to becoming the most valuable startup in the world ten years later. In this episode, a16z Cofounder Ben Horowitz and General Partner Erik Torenberg sit down with Sam to discuss the core thesis behind OpenAI’s disparate bets, why they released Sora, how they use models internally, the best AI evals, and where we’re going from here. Timecodes: 0:00 Introduction 0:41 OpenAI’s Vision and Infrastructure 2:37 Business Model and Vertical Integration 5:08 AGI, Sora, and Societal Co-evolution 8:01 The Future of AI Interfaces 9:12 AI Scientists and Scientific Progress 11:44 Reflections on Progress and Model Capabilities 16:17 Sam's Experience as CEO & Leadership Lessons 17:34 Strategic Partnerships and Scaling Infrastructure 25:05 Regulation, Safety, and Societal Impact 28:33 Copyright, Open Source, and Content Creation 33:15 Energy, Policy, and AI’s Resource Needs 37:07 Monetization and User Behavior 43:03 The Talent War and Personal Reflections 45:20 Advice for Founders Resources: Follow Sam on X: https://x.com/sama Follow OpenAI on X: https://x.com/openai Learn more about OpenAI: https://openai.com/ Try Sora: https://sora.com/ Follow Ben on X: https://x.com/bhorowitz Stay Updated: If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like, subscribe, and share with your friends! Find a16z on X: https://x.com/a16z Find a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z Listen to the a16z Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5bC65RDvs3oxnLyqqvkUYX Listen to the a16z Podcast on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a16z-podcast/id842818711 Follow our host: https://x.com/eriktorenberg Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details, please see a16z.com/disclosures.

Segments Timeline

1
0:00 - 0:41
0:40 duration137 words

Introduction

"sort of thought we had like stumbled on this one giant secret that we had these scaling loss for language models and that felt like such an incredible triumph. I was like we're probably never going to..."

2
0:41 - 2:38
1:57 duration417 words

OpenAI’s Vision and Infrastructure

"Sam, welcome to the Z podcast. >> Thanks for having me. >> All right. You've uh described in another interview, you described OpenAI as a combination of four companies. uh consumer technology business..."

3
2:38 - 5:08
2:29 duration523 words

Business Model and Vertical Integration

"did many years ago in Strictly VC and and sort of early open AI well before TGBT and and they're saying hey what's they're asking what's the business model and you said oh we'll ask AI it'll figure it..."

4
5:08 - 8:01
2:53 duration576 words

AGI, Sora, and Societal Co-evolution

">> Which bets would you say are enablers of AGI versus which are sort of hedges against uncertainty? I >> think you could say that on the surface Sora for example does not look like it's AGI relevant...."

5
8:01 - 9:12
1:11 duration250 words

The Future of AI Interfaces

">> I want to talk about the future of AI human interfaces because back in August you said the models have already saturated the chat use case. So what are future AI human interfaces look like both in ..."

6
9:12 - 11:45
2:33 duration534 words

AI Scientists and Scientific Progress

"within the next couple years what will models be able to do that they're not able to do today will be sort of white color um you know replacement at a much deeper level AI scientist uh human humanoids..."

7
11:45 - 16:20
4:34 duration891 words

Reflections on Progress and Model Capabilities

"just broader reflections in terms of what sort of about diffusion or uh development in 2025 has surprised you or what has sort of updated your worldview since chatb came out. A lot of things again but..."

8
16:20 - 17:34
1:13 duration255 words

Sam's Experience as CEO & Leadership Lessons

"and you know, of course, the company's in a different position and you have more leverage and these kinds of things, but like how has your kind of thinking changed over the years since you did that th..."

9
17:34 - 25:08
7:33 duration1460 words

Strategic Partnerships and Scaling Infrastructure

"last few weeks alone, you mentioned AMD, but also Oracle, Nvidia. You've chosen to strike these deals and partnerships with with companies that you collaborate with, but could also potentially compete..."

10
25:08 - 28:33
3:25 duration534 words

Regulation, Safety, and Societal Impact

"sort of evolved your thinking? You mentioned you evolved your thinking on sort of uh you know vertical integration. How have you evolved your thinking or what's the latest thinking on sort of AI stewa..."

11
28:33 - 33:17
4:43 duration887 words

Copyright, Open Source, and Content Creation

"yeah So, well then that that's a segue, but um when you think about well I guess how do you see copy right unfolding because you've done some very interesting things um with the opt out uh and you kno..."

12
33:17 - 37:07
3:50 duration723 words

Energy, Policy, and AI’s Resource Needs

"interpretation of everything to somebody. >> Yeah. >> Who may be or may not be influenced heavily by the Chinese government. Yeah. What about And >> by the way, we see I mean, you know, just to give y..."

13
37:07 - 43:03
5:56 duration1169 words

Monetization and User Behavior

">> Yeah. on open. What's what's the latest thinking in terms of monetization in terms of either certain experiments or c certain things that you could see yourself spending more time or less less time..."

14
43:03 - 45:21
2:18 duration406 words

The Talent War and Personal Reflections

">> We've uh we've given meta their flowers. So now I can feel like I can ask you this question which is the great talent war hall of 2025 has has has taken place and open AAI remains intact. Team is s..."

15
45:21 - 49:07
3:45 duration712 words

Advice for Founders

"insight you you had um where you talked about how you know the the next open a mistake investors make is pattern matching off previous breakthroughs and just trying to find oh what's the what's the ne..."