Sam Altman discusses with a16z co-founder: Making radical bets on infrastructure, Sora is an important strategic tool.

Written by: Long Yue

OpenAI is transforming from a research lab into a vertically integrated “AI empire.”

On October 8, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, revealed in a recent conversation with Ben Horowitz, co-founder of the well-known venture capital firm a16z, that OpenAI has decided to make a “very aggressive infrastructure bet,” the scale of which requires the entire industry to participate.

He explained that this decision was based on strong confidence in the model's capabilities over the next one to two years, as they foresee that the upcoming models will create significant economic value, while the current expansion rate can no longer meet future demand.

This strategy directly explains the series of collaborations recently reached by OpenAI with tech giants such as NVIDIA, Oracle, and AMD. Altman has announced that more such collaborations will be revealed in the coming months, indicating that they are trying to leverage the entire industry chain “from electronics to model distribution.”

This may also mean that the AI competition is shifting from algorithms to an all-out struggle involving computing power, capital, and energy.

Altman directly links the future of AI with the future of energy, pointing out that the exponential growth of AI will require cheaper and more abundant energy. He predicts that the long-term solution will be the combination of solar energy with storage and advanced nuclear energy, asserting that the cost of nuclear energy will be a key variable in determining whether it can be rapidly adopted and thus support the development of AI.

When talking about the company's vision, Altman stated that OpenAI is not just a research lab, but a comprehensive entity that integrates consumer AI subscription services, large-scale infrastructure operations, and cutting-edge AI research, dedicated to building artificial general intelligence (AGI) and making it beneficial to humanity.

Key points from Sam Altman's interview:

Radical Infrastructure Bet: Altman revealed that the company is making a “very aggressive infrastructure bet” that requires the support of the entire industry. This massive investment is based on strong confidence in the model's capabilities over the next one to two years, rather than the current model, and it previews more industry collaborations in the coming months.

Energy Future Blueprint: Altman pointed out that AI and energy have already “merged into one,” and the exponential growth of AI will rely on cheaper and more abundant energy. He predicts that future energy will be dominated by “solar energy + energy storage” and nuclear power. He believes that once nuclear power demonstrates “overwhelming economic advantages,” its development will be extremely rapid, and he called the past restrictions on nuclear power an “extremely foolish decision.”

The strategic position of Sora: Sora is not just a video generation tool; it is also a strategic tool for building a “world model” to advance AGI and help society adapt to the development of AI.

“AI scientists” are coming: Altman predicts that AI models will be capable of making significant scientific discoveries within the next two years, which he sees as a true sign of AI changing the world. He revealed that GPT-5 has begun to demonstrate the ability to make small, novel scientific discoveries.

Strategic shift towards vertical integration: Altman admits that his previous view on vertical integration was incorrect and now believes it is a necessary path for OpenAI to achieve its mission, analogous to the success of Apple's iPhone.

New copyright model: He foresees that in the future, AI training may be considered fair use, but using specific IP to generate content will give rise to new business models. Some copyright holders are even more concerned about their IP not being fully utilized by AI, rather than being overused.

Commercialization and Trust: Regarding commercialization, Altman holds an open but cautious attitude towards advertising, emphasizing that user trust in ChatGPT must not be compromised. He believes that recommending paid products instead of the best products would destroy this trust relationship.

“A Very Aggressive Bet”: Infrastructure Expansion Based on Future Demand

Amid the current skepticism surrounding whether AI is in a bubble, Altman's statement undoubtedly adds fuel to the market's frenzy. He stated, “We have decided that it is time to make a very aggressive infrastructure bet.”

This decision is not based on the current demand for products like ChatGPT, but rather stems from a strong optimism about the future. Altman revealed, “The reason we are so aggressive is not because of the existing models we have… We can see (the capabilities of future models) one to two years ahead of time.” He believes that the economic value created by the upcoming models will far exceed expectations, and therefore, it is necessary to plan ahead.

The scale of this gamble is so large that it requires support from the entire industry. Altman said: “To bet at this scale, we kind of need the entire industry… to support it.” This encompasses “everything from electronics to model distribution and everything in between.”

This also explains why OpenAI is actively establishing partnerships with companies like AMD, Oracle, and NVIDIA. He further hinted that this is just the beginning, “In the coming months, you should see more actions from us.”

The Energy Lifeline of AI: The Future of Nuclear and Solar Energy

Altman admitted that the two areas he is most concerned about in his career—AI and energy—have now “merged into one.” He believes that looking back at history, the most significant factor in improving the quality of human life has been cheaper and more abundant energy. The enormous computational power demands of AI are pushing energy issues to the forefront.

Regarding how to address future energy demands, Altman provided a clear roadmap. He anticipates that in the short term, the new baseload energy in the United States will primarily come from natural gas. However, in the long run, he believes that “the two dominant energy sources will be solar plus storage, and nuclear energy.” The nuclear energy he refers to includes the entire advanced nuclear technology stack, including small modular reactors (SMRs) and nuclear fusion.

Regarding the development of nuclear energy, Altman提出了一个关键的经济学观点。他认为，核能普及的速度完全取决于其成本。“如果它在经济上相对于其他一切具有压倒性的优势，那么我预计它会发生得非常快。”

He added that the enormous political pressure at that time would drive regulators to act quickly. Conversely, if its costs are similar to other energy sources, anti-nuclear sentiment could make its development process extremely lengthy. He unreservedly referred to the past decisions by many regions to ban nuclear energy as “an extremely foolish decision.”

Sora's strategic value: beyond video generation

Regarding the recently released text-to-video model Sora, Altman also elaborated on its multiple roles in the company's strategy. He believes that Sora appears to be unrelated to Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), but he is convinced that building a robust “world model” is far more crucial for achieving AGI than people realize.

In addition, Sora is also an important tool for OpenAI to guide the “co-evolution” of society and technology. Altman stated that just as ChatGPT made the world begin to take large language models seriously, Sora can allow society to anticipate the impacts and opportunities that powerful video models will bring. “It is very important to let the world understand the direction of video technology development,” he said.

Of course, Sora also brings new commercialization challenges. Altman observed that users not only use it for professional creation but also to make interesting memes and share them. There is a contradiction between the high generation costs and the frequent entertaining use, which means OpenAI needs to explore a business model for Sora that is completely different from ChatGPT.

The Catalyst of AGI: The “AI Scientist” is Coming Soon

Among all the potential applications of AI, Altman stated that he is “most excited” about “AI scientists.” He believes that when AI is able to make scientific discoveries independently, the world will undergo a real transformation.

“We first saw small examples of it happening on GPT-5,” he revealed. He observed that the model has already been able to make some novel mathematical discoveries or achieve minor advancements in physics and biological research, and he believes this trend will go further.

He predicts that within the next two years, the model will be able to undertake larger chunks of scientific work and make important discoveries, which will have a “significant impact” on the world.

From Investor to Operator: The Cognitive Shift of Vertical Integration

Altman also reflected on his transition from investor to company operator during the interview, as well as its impact on OpenAI's strategy. He admitted that he had always opposed vertical integration, but “now I think I was wrong at that time.”

He attributes this shift in perception to his practical experience in running a company. As an investor, he was more inclined toward the theoretical market efficiency, where each company only does one thing. But as a CEO, he realized that to fulfill the company's mission, he had to personally do much more than expected. The tremendous success of the Apple iPhone is a prime example of extreme vertical integration, which Altman referred to as “the most incredible product in the history of the tech industry.”

This shift in thinking from “suggestion” to “execution” explains why OpenAI has gradually expanded from being a purely research laboratory to building its own large-scale infrastructure, striving to control the full-stack capabilities from underlying computing power to upper-layer applications, laying the foundation for its grand AI empire.