OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has made a striking prediction that could change the landscape of human communication. At a dinner event with journalists in San Francisco, Altman stated that ChatGPT may soon conduct more daily conversations than all human interactions combined, highlighting the platform’s swift global acceptance and the evolving role of AI in everyday life. “If you project our growth forward, pretty soon billions of people a day will be talking to ChatGPT,” Altman mentioned, as reported by Wired. He asserted that “ChatGPT will be having more conversations, maybe, than all human words put together, at some point.
I think it’s unreasonable to expect a single model personality or style to work for all of that.” His comments come at a crucial time for OpenAI, which recently launched its highly anticipated GPT-5 model. While the update introduced notable advancements, it also elicited mixed responses. Many users felt that the new version seemed “colder” and less relatable than GPT-4o, leading OpenAI to temporarily reinstate access to the older model following public outcry. Altman acknowledged that the company “misjudged how people would feel about the change in tone” and committed to providing more customization options that reflect the varied ways individuals interact with AI.
“There will have to be a very different kind of product offering to accommodate the extremely wide diversity of use cases and people,” he indicated, suggesting a future where AI assistants could uniquely adapt to each user’s preferences and communication styles. Since its launch in late 2022, ChatGPT has emerged as the fastest-growing consumer tech product in history, altering how people and organizations communicate, create, and solve problems. Despite ongoing discussions regarding AI ethics, misinformation, and job automation, Altman remains hopeful.
He likened the current AI surge to the internet bubble of the 1990s, admitting that “for sure” there’s a bubble but stressing that it’s centered around a “kernel of truth.” He elaborated that “when bubbles happen, smart people get overexcited about a kernel of truth,” reinforcing the idea that transformative technology often arises from such periods of intense innovation and excitement. OpenAI’s goals, however, extend well beyond conversational AI. Altman disclosed that the company plans to invest trillions of dollars in data centers soon to further its pursuit of artificial general intelligence (AGI) — the long-desired objective of machines that can think and learn like humans.
“And you should expect a bunch of economists to wring their hands and be like, ‘Oh, this is so crazy, it’s so reckless’ … And we’ll just be like, ‘You know what? Let us do our thing,’” he said with a touch of humor. Currently valued at approximately $300 billion, OpenAI has reportedly secured $40 billion to expedite its mission and may soon achieve a remarkable $500 billion valuation through an impending stock sale. Altman concluded with a pragmatic yet optimistic perspective: “Someone is going to lose a phenomenal amount of money, we don’t know who, and a lot of people are going to make a phenomenal amount of money.
And my personal belief, although I may turn out to be wrong, is that on the whole, this will be a huge net win for the economy.” If his prediction proves accurate, ChatGPT might not only engage with the world — it could soon be speaking on its behalf.