Some users are baulking at ChatGPT’s top subscription price of $200 per month, but the company seems to have even bigger plans for its services.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has envisioned a future where the highest-paying subscribers of ChatGPT might receive a humanoid robot as part of their package. In a recent statement, the tech leader outlined a bold strategy that extends beyond conversational AI, venturing into the realm of physical robotics and automation. His remarks paint a picture of a world where artificial intelligence seamlessly integrates with physical labor, potentially revolutionizing industries and our daily lives.
Altman’s vision begins with perfecting the AI brain before deploying it into a physical form. “Our strategy has been (to nail AI) at first and then make sure we can connect that to a robot,” he explained. “But the time for the robot is coming soon.” He expressed his excitement for this not-so-distant future, stating, “I am very excited about a world where when you sign up for the highest tier of the ChatGPT subscription, we send you a free humanoid robot… that future is gonna be pretty wild.”
The OpenAI chief believes we are on the cusp of a significant breakthrough in robotics. “Being able to have robots that do real work in the real world, I think we’re not that far away now,” Altman said. He acknowledged the historical difficulties in both the mechanical engineering of robots and the development of their cognitive AI, but he now sees these challenges as surmountable. “It feels within grasp and I think in a few years robots will start to do super useful stuff,” he predicted.
Looking further ahead, Altman contemplated the scale and impact of a world populated by intelligent, autonomous robots. “Making a billion robots is still gonna take a while,” he conceded, before posing a thought-provoking question about the potential for self-perpetuating automation: “I’m interested in the question of how many robots do you need to fully automate the supply chain? Like if you make a million humanoid robots the old-fashioned way, can they run the entire supply chain? Drive the mining equipment, drive the container ships, run the foundries and make the new robots.” He speculates that this could lead to a rapid proliferation of robots, meeting a demand that is currently almost unimaginable. “And then maybe you actually can get a lot of robots in the world quickly, but the demand for human robots in the world will be far more than we know how to think about with the current supply chain,” he concluded.
Altman’s comments are not just speculative fantasy. They are rooted in OpenAI’s recent strategic moves and the broader trends in the tech industry. The company has been making significant investments in robotics, most notably backing humanoid robotics firm Figure and 1X. In early 2024, Figure announced a collaboration with OpenAI to develop the next generation of AI models for its robots, leading to impressive demonstrations of a robot, powered by OpenAI’s technology, capable of understanding and responding to human speech while performing tasks. This partnership underscores a clear ambition to give physical form to the powerful intelligence that OpenAI has been honing. Furthermore, the mention of a $200 per month “Pro” tier for ChatGPT, which already exists, lends a tangible, albeit premium, starting point for such an ambitious subscription model. As advancements in both AI and robotics continue to accelerate, the line between science fiction and a commercially available reality, as envisioned by Sam Altman, appears to be blurring faster than ever before.