Photo Credit: Getty Images

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently announced plans to curb hiring, according to Futurism.

The news came from a recent livestreamed town hall.

"We are planning to dramatically slow down how quickly we grow because we think we’ll be able to do so much more with fewer people," said Altman. "What I think we shouldn’t do, and what I hope other companies won’t do either, is hire super aggressively, then realize all of a sudden AI [artificial intelligence] can do a lot of stuff, and you need fewer people and have to have some sort of very uncomfortable conversation. So I think the right approach for us will be to hire more slowly but keep hiring."

This follows on the heels of OpenAI’s struggle to reach profitability. ChatGPT subscriber growth has stalled, and ads, which Altman had previously described as a "last resort for us as a business model," have been rolled out to make up the revenue difference. Altman has declared a "code red" as Google stands to overtake OpenAI as the industry leader.

Altman is keen to have AI do more work in building AI systems, which presents its own challenges. One study suggested that this year, large language model training would use 75% data created by AI. The quality of that training data could degrade service quality. As it stands, AI is already making some creative hallucinations in high-stakes situations.

Even in a best-case scenario in which AI outperforms humans, there’s the destructive outcome of displacing human labor.

Worse still, AI use still demands an incredible amount of electricity. The source of that grid energy is often sources like coal or gas, which contribute to pollution and exacerbate destructive weather patterns. Tech giants like Google, Meta, and Microsoft have made investments in nuclear power to mitigate those impacts.

Despite all of this, Altman remained optimistic about the future of OpenAI and AI generally.

"If companies don’t figure out how to hire people that are going to use the tools really effectively, they will eventually just be outcompeted by a fully AI company that doesn’t have to have the sort of silly policies that prevent big companies from using AI or whatever," he said. "That feels like it’ll be a very destabilizing thing for society."

Get TCD’s free newsletters for easy tips to save more, waste less, and make smarter choices — and earn up to $5,000 toward clean upgrades in TCD’s exclusive Rewards Club.