ABU DHABI: OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman said on Monday that artificial intelligence (AI) models were now mostly smarter than leading scientists and could handle large parts of office work.
Speaking at the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC), Altman described a sharp change in model capabilities since the start of the year.
He argued that AI systems, once unable to perform many white-collar tasks, could now complete substantial portions of such work. But Altman urged continued human judgment and accountability as AI use expands.
“AI needs to be a tool built for people and needs to serve people,” he said. He rejected giving the technology control over decisions about society’s future.
Electricity supply remains the biggest constraint on AI growth, Altman argued. Rising demand for computing power would make energy availability a key cost factor, he added.
Altman estimated that global monthly AI token use had reached roughly 100,000 per person, up from almost nothing six years earlier.
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He said major institutional users consumed around 500 billion tokens each month. The OpenAI chief also estimated that about 80% of young people in the United Arab Emirates used ChatGPT every week.
During the conference, OpenAI announced a partnership with Emirati technology group G42 and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC).
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The companies described it as the first deployment of OpenAI’s frontier technology by an energy company. OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman said AI models had become smarter than most leading scientists, while calling for human oversight and announcing a partnership with UAE energy companies.
With input from Anadolu Agency
