Sam Altman Invents Bizarre New Unit of Time for Measuring When His Promises Will Come True
Futurism
Blog post 'The Intelligence Age'
“It is possible that we will have superintelligence in a few thousand days (!); it may take longer, but I'm confident we'll get there”
Sam Altman23 September 2024- What you'll lose0/5
Nothing taken, only promised.
- Condescension1/5
The '(!)' is doing a lot of work.
- Tone-deafness3/5
A new unit of time, coined while raising billions.
- Doom2/5
Superintelligence on a countdown.
- Hypocrisy0/5
None on record.
Full time6 pitchforksof a possible 25
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Call received. VAR is having a look: the referee reviews every call, and the score stands until then.
The occasion
Blog post 'The Intelligence Age', 23 September 2024.
Context
In an essay on the coming 'Intelligence Age', Altman predicted superintelligence might arrive within a few thousand days, while granting it may take longer. OpenAI was raising a multibillion-dollar round at the time.
Crowd reaction
Widespread criticism
BGR collects critics, quoting computer scientist Grady Booch ('I am so freaking tired of all the AI hype: it has no basis in reality and serves only to inflate valuations') and Matthew Yglesias; Futurism mocks 'a few thousand days' as an invented unit of time.
- Primary source, essay
- Futurism: Sam Altman Invents Bizarre New Unit of Time for Measuring When His Promises Will Come True
- BGR: 'I Am So Freaking Tired Of All The AI Hype': Reaction To Sam Altman's Latest Bluster
- Fortune: Trending now
- TechSpot: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says superintelligence could arrive in "a few thousand days"
- Where the exact words are printed