Sam Altman Says AI Will Cause Wars if Key Infrastructure Is Not Built

• Sam Altman has shared more of his vision for the future of AI.
• The OpenAI boss believes building infrastructure is key to avoiding conflict over the technology.
• Sam Altman and Elon Musk both said that superintelligence may only be a few years away.

Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, believes that if the world doesn’t build enough AI infrastructure, the technology could become a commodity important enough to start wars.

The stark warning comes as the AI boss detailed his expansive vision for the future of the emerging technology, which includes virtual teachers, an end to climate change, and superintelligence within a few thousand days.

Build AI Infrastructure or Face War

In a blog post on Monday, Altman warned of future wars if the infrastructure for AI isn’t built quickly enough.

“If we don’t build enough infrastructure, AI will be a very limited resource that wars get fought over and that becomes mostly a tool for rich people,” Altman wrote.

The OpenAI co-founder believes that to keep AI from creating conflict, it should not be a limited resource.

“If we want to put AI into the hands of as many people as possible, we need to drive down the cost of compute and make it abundant (which requires lots of energy and chips),” he wrote.

Data Centers and Renewable Energy

Altman has been advocating for more efficient AI infrastructure for years. In January 2024, the CEO claimed that AI could not advance without an energy breakthrough.

Exowatt, a renewable energy company backed by Altman, launched its flagship product earlier this month. It aims to provide cheap electricity and thermal power for data centers.

In a press release, the startup says its P3 product can cut CO2 emissions by 438,000 tons in an average data center. This is in light of research from the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) in May that found data centers could use up to 9% of the total electricity generated in the US by 2030.

According to the Institute, the annual growth rate of AI electricity usage could range from 3.7% to 15% through 2030, depending on the efficiency of newly built data centers.

OpenAI is not the only company looking to invest in greener energy. In August 2024, Meta signed a deal to buy geothermal power from Sage Geosystems to power its U.S. data centers.

Meta said it would purchase 150 megawatts of geothermal power from Sage Geosystems, roughly enough electricity to power 38,000 homes.

Altman Believes Superintelligence Is Close

Altman has long envisioned a future where AI plays a transformative role in improving human life. He believes that AI can address some of the world’s most significant challenges and create opportunities at a scale that was previously unimaginable.

Perhaps most strikingly, Altman claims that superintelligence may just be a few thousand days away.

AI superintelligence refers to a form of the technology that surpasses human intelligence across all fields – in other words, an AI that is smarter than humans.

“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,” Altman wrote.

Of course, Altman is not the only BigTech leader who thinks that superintelligence is around the corner. Elon Musk predicted in March that “AI will probably be smarter than any single human next year.”

Personal AI Teams and a Fix to Climate Change

Alongside superintelligence, Altman believes everyone could have access to their own personal AI team of virtual experts in the future. In this scenario, the efficiency of education, healthcare, and other fields would be greatly increased.

The OpenAI CEO also said that AI would eventually grant humans the power to create space colonies – and even put an end to climate change.

“Although it will happen incrementally, astounding triumphs – fixing the climate, establishing a space colony, and the discovery of all of physics – will eventually become commonplace,” Altman said.

“With nearly-limitless intelligence and abundant energy – the ability to generate great ideas, and the ability to make them happen – we can do quite a lot,” he added.