By Nick Robins-Early
Publication Date: 2026-01-25 13:00:00
Sam Altman has claimed over the years that advancing AI could solve climate change, cure cancer, create a benevolent superintelligence beyond human comprehension, provide every student with a tutor, take over nearly half the tasks in the economy, and create what he calls “universal extreme wealth.”
In order to realize his utopian future, Altman demands enormous resources from the present. As CEO of OpenAI, the world’s most valuable private company, he has in recent months announced plans to invest $1 trillion in data centers and signed multi-billion dollar deals with several chipmakers. Once completed, the data centers are expected to use more electricity than entire European nations. OpenAI is driving aggressive expansion – penetrating industries like e-commerce, healthcare, etc.
