OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is in talks with investors, including from the United Arab Emirates, to raise between $5 trillion to $7 trillion in funding. The goal, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal, is to increase the world’s chip manufacturing capacity and enhance AI capabilities.

The fundraising efforts are part of a broader strategy to address OpenAI’s growth constraints, particularly the scarcity of AI chips needed for training large language models like ChatGPT.

Altman’s proposal is said to include forming a partnership with investors, chip manufacturers, and power providers to finance the construction of chip foundries, which would then be operated by the chip manufacturers.

  • zoostation@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Could that level of investment ever be recouped in any other manner than by replacing vast numbers of workers and their salaries?

    • ikidd@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Well, see, if we grind down 8 billion people into a nourishing slurry with a shelf life of a century, that should be worth at least $1000 a person, with inflation. That’s a 50% profit on your investment!

    • RegalPotoo@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      That’s my question; presumably the people in charge of that much wealth aren’t total fools and will be wanting to see some actual numbers and a business case as to how they will see a return, not just platitudes and enthusiasm.

    • iopq@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      That’s how productivity growth is achieved, a smaller amount of workers do the same task.

      Or course, the created wealth is again invested back eventually and new products/services require new jobs.

      For example, right now we have some of the highest labor participation in years, despite rising productivity

      • bunnyfc@kbin.social
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        9 months ago

        yeah and productivity increase has decoupled from wage in 1980, while productivity rises wages stay the same - why should anyone who’s not a multimillionaire find that acceptable?

        • QuaternionsRock@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Why would anyone know this fact and attack productivity increases rather than its being decoupled from wages?

    • MxM111@kbin.social
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      9 months ago

      Yes, think about how computers had multiplicative effect on productivity. The same may be possible with AI.