OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has revealed he is seeking further financial support from top investor Microsoft as his company – the makers of the popular ChatGPT software – pushes forward with research into "how to build superintelligence," a report says.
Microsoft announced earlier this year it will invest as much as $10 billion in OpenAI, extending collaborations between the two companies to include AI supercomputing and research, while enabling both to independently commercialize the resulting advanced AI technologies.
Altman told The Financial Times that the partnership with Microsoft is "working really well" and he anticipates "to raise a lot more over time" to help fund the creation of more advanced artificial intelligence models.
Altman said in an interview with the newspaper that he is focused on researching "how to build superintelligence" and acquiring the computing power necessary to do so.
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"The vision is to make artificial general intelligence (AGI), figure out how to make it safe and figure out the benefits," Altman said.
Companies like IBM describe AGI as having "an intelligence equal to humans" that "would have a self-aware consciousness that has the ability to solve problems, learn, and plan for the future."
IBM added that AGI "only exists today as a theoretical concept versus a tangible reality."
Prior to launching GPTs, Altman said OpenAI was working on creating autonomous agents that can perform tasks and actions such as making payments, sending emails and filing claims, according to The Financial Times.
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"We will make these agents more and more powerful and the actions will get more and more complex from here," he said to the newspaper. "The amount of business value that will come from being able to do that in every category, I think, is pretty good."
On its website, OpenAI says superintelligence "will be the most impactful technology humanity has ever invented, and could help us solve many of the world’s most important problems.
"But the vast power of superintelligence could also be very dangerous, and could lead to the disempowerment of humanity or even human extinction," it adds.
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Altman also told The Financial Times that OpenAI is also working on the next version of ChatGPT, although the release date for that was not revealed.
FOX Business’ Joe Toppe contributed to this report.