OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has likened artificial intelligence to utilities that are required to live.
Altman was discussing his company’s plans during BlackRock’s U.S. Infrastructure Summit on Wednesday. A mix of politicians, union leaders, and industry executives were in attendance when he dropped the news about his vision for AI.
‘People buy it from us on a meter and use it for whatever they want to use it for.’
Speaking to Bayo Ogunlesi, chairman and CEO of BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners, Altman likened AI to lifesaving utilities that are typically viewed as human rights.
“We see a future where intelligence is a utility like electricity or water, and people buy it from us on a meter and use it for whatever they want to use it for,” Altman explained.
The CEO then claimed that the “demand” for metered AI usage is high and that the idea only continues to become more popular. His claims contained a warning though, in that “if we don’t have enough” AI, it will become too expensive and “kind of goes to rich people.”
This claim was seemingly based off Altman’s plans to build a massive AI infrastructure system in the United States through his Stargate Project.
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Announced at the beginning of 2025, the Stargate Project is a $500 billion investment plan to build sprawling AI infrastructure for OpenAI and its partners by 2029.
This would allegedly “generate massive economic benefit for the entire world,” the press release stated.
However, as it stands, there is only one data center under the project currently operating: the flagship location in Abilene, Texas.
The 980,000 square foot site produces an estimated 200+ megawatts, capable of powering 50,000 NVIDIA GB200 NVL72s in each of its buildings — which are essentially AI supercomputers.
Another data center in Port Washington, Wisconsin, is scheduled to be open in 2028.
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Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
“If we don’t have enough [AI], we either can’t sell it or the price gets really high, and it, you know, kind of goes to rich people or society makes a bunch of sort of central planning decisions that I think almost always go badly about, you know, we’re going to use our limited compute supply for this and not that,” Altman said at the BlackRock event.
He added, “So the best thing to me throughout all the history of capitalism, innovation, whatever you want, is to just flood the market,” which seemingly means the flooding should go through OpenAI.
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