As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to evolve, its accessibility is climbing the ladder. Despite DeepSeek's intervention, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman believed that falling AI costs could trigger massive adoption and advancement.
The genius man behind ChatGPT detailed how AI's growth trajectory is outpacing even Moore's Law, fundamentally reshaping industries and economies.
AI Costs Going Down 10x Every Year
As stated by Altman in his recent blog, the cost of using AI is dropping dramatically, making it more affordable and widespread.
"The cost to use a given level of AI falls about 10x every 12 months, and lower prices lead to much more use," Altman wrote.
He cited a striking example: the cost per token from GPT-4 in early 2023 to GPT-4o in mid-2024 plummeted 150x in just over a year. By comparison, Moore's Law—the principle that computing power doubles every 18 months—pales in comparison to AI's accelerating pace.
This rapid cost decline means AI adoption will continue expanding at an exponential rate, impacting everything from business operations to everyday consumer applications.
AI's Intelligence Scales with Investment
The second major observation of Altman relates to the connection between AI intelligence and investment. He argued that AI models become smarter as more resources are invested in their development.
Business Insider writes that Altman believes scaling laws can accurately predict advancement. The 39-year-old entrepreneur also claims that AI's potential has no foreseeable limit. Even after many years, many companies will invest in AI tech as long as they see it benefiting their businesses.
Super-Exponential Growth Will Transform Society
AI's rapid intelligence expansion is not slowing down anytime soon. In fact, Altman predicts that AI will continue to advance at a "super-exponential" rate, meaning its intelligence is increasing faster than ever before.
He believes this will significantly impact global economies, adding that the prices of goods will "eventually fall dramatically."
But Altman also cautioned that while AI-driven automation will lower the cost of most goods and services, luxury items and scarce resources—such as land—could become even more expensive.
In a different story by TechCrunch, Altman even said that AI's benefits may not be widely distributed. While he said that the "compute budget" concept is the key to solving this problem, its proposal will be easier than its execution.
Altman's comments come at a time of heightened activity in the AI sector. In January, AI-linked stocks saw a massive sell-off, fueled by fears that competition from Chinese AI startup DeepSeek could reduce demand for AI hardware like Nvidia's chips.
The Stargate Project: A $500 Billion AI Initiative
Altman was also present at the White House last month when President Donald Trump announced Stargate, a groundbreaking $500 billion AI infrastructure investment project.
However, his co-billionaire Elon Musk thought that Altman was a swindler, saying that Stargate was not legit.
