OpenAI's Sam Altman seeks to raise billions for artificial intelligence chip factories venture

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is seeking to raise billions of dollars to set up a network of Artificial Intelligence (AI) chip factories that will manufacture semiconductors, Bloomberg reported on Friday. According to the report, Altman recently had talks with several large potential investors like Abu Dhabi-based G42 and Japan’s SoftBank Group. However, the talks are still early. A full list of potential partners and funders involved in the venture are yet to be established, it added.

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What we know so far about Sam Altman’s new chip venture:

1. Sam Altman, who was ousted from OpenAI last November before being quickly reinstated, is seeking to raise vast sums of money for chip fabrication plants – known as ‘fabs’.
2. Notably, manufacturing chips are expensive as they require ample amounts of natural resources apart from funding.
3. According to the report by Bloomberg, Altman’s new project would involve working with top chip manufacturers and the network of the chip factories would be global in scope.
4. Intel, Taiwanese chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, and Samsung Electronics are potential partners for OpenAI in the new venture, the report said.
5. While the current status of the talks for the chip project with G42 and SoftBank Group is not yet clear, the report mentioned that G42 – with whom Altman partnered in October last year – had focused on raising eight to ten billion dollars.

‘AI about to get uncomfortable’

Meanwhile, Altman on Thursday said artificial intelligence is evolving much more rapidly than previous technologies. Speaking during an interview with Axios at Davos, Altman said AI products will have to allow a lot of individual customisation that will make a lot of people uncomfortable.

“If the country said, you know, all gay people should be killed on sight, then no …that is well out of bounds. But there are probably other things that I don’t personally agree with, but a different culture might. …We have to be somewhat uncomfortable as a tool builder with some of the uses of our tools,” he said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum.

The ChatGPT maker also added that soon, users may be able to ask AI about the most important emails they received in the day and let AI summarise it for them.

(With inputs from Bloomberg, Reuters)

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