Sam Altman: AI Adoption Slower Than Expected

Sam Altman now says the economy is adapting to AI slower than he expected. The OpenAI CEO initially believed the 2023 release of GPT-4 would quickly create new opportunities for software businesses. Instead, Altman observes that customers and companies are largely sticking with their existing products and routines. He calls this slower adoption cycle "a positive in many ways," but also notes it means "we've all been too ambitious on timelines." What's interesting is Altman likens this AI transition to the early 2000s, when people still went to Blockbuster even as Netflix offered DVD delivery. He says changing behavior is much harder than "tech nerds realize." Even Altman himself still manually manages his inbox, despite OpenAI's Codex being able to help. The bottom line is that the widespread corporate adoption of AI's potential is proving more complicated than anticipated.