--- title: "Sam Altman Says AGI Will Invent Fusion and Make the World Wonderful" description: "OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wants you to ignore the culture war — and wants you to focus on building safe AGI and fusion instead. As one does." date: "2023-05-09" modified: "2023-05-09" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/sam-altman-agi-fusion-world" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "OpenAI" tags: - "agi" - "ai" - "OpenAI" - "sam altman" --- # Sam Altman Says AGI Will Invent Fusion and Make the World Wonderful ![OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wants you to ignore the culture war — and wants you to focus on building safe AGI and fusion instead. As one does.]() *SUN VALLEY, ID - JULY 13: Sam Altman, chief executive officer of Y Combinator, attends the third day of the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 13, 2017 in Sun Valley, Idaho. Every July, some of the world's most wealthy and powerful businesspeople from the media, finance, technology and political spheres converge at the Sun Valley Resort for the exclusive weeklong conference. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) \Image: Getty Images/Drew Angerer\* Concerned about the United States' brimming culture war? According to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, you can go ahead and ignore it, actually — and instead focus on building artificial general intelligence (AGI), which would be AI that exceeds human capabilities, perhaps by a very wide margin. "Here is an alternative path for society: ignore the culture war. Ignore the attention war," Altman [tweeted on Sunday](), encouraging readers instead to "make safe AGI. Make fusion. Make people smarter and healthier. Make 20 other things of that magnitude." "Start radical growth, inclusivity, and optimism," Altman continued, rounding out the optimistic proposition with a particularly Star Trek idea: "Expand throughout the universe." Though it's a little vague, Altman's musing certainly seems to imply that successfully creating AGI would play a pivotal role in solving pretty much all of humanity's problems, from cracking the fusion code and solving the clean energy crisis to curing disease to "20 other things of that magnitude," whatever those 20 other things may be. (Altman had [tweeted earlier]() in the day that "AI is the tech the world has always wanted," which seems to speak to such an outlook as well.) And if that *is* what Altman's implying? That's some seriously next-level AI optimism — indeed, this description of the future could arguably be called an AI utopia — especially when you consider that Altman and his [OpenAI staffers]() pretty [openly admit]() that AGI could also *destroy* the world as we know it. To that end, the OpenAI CEO often offers polarizing takes on whether AI may ultimately end the world or save it, [telling *The New York Times*]() as recently as March that he believes AI will either [destroy the world or make a ton of money](). Others in the CEO's circle seem to have taken note of Altman's oft-conflicting outlooks on AI's potential impact. "In a single conversation," Kelly Sims, a board adviser to OpenAI and a partner at Thiel Capital, told the *NYT* in March, "\[Altman\] is both sides of the debate club." And while optimism is generally a good thing, Altman's advice to his followers seems a bit oversimplified. Humanity's problems don't just hinge on whether we're paying attention to talk of the "[woke mind virus]()," and considering that inflammatory language [hurts real people in the real world](), not everyone has the luxury of ignoring the brewing "culture war" that Altman's speaking to. And on the AGI side, it's true that AGI could, in theory, give humans a helping hand in curing some of our ills. But such an AGI, and AGI as a concept altogether, is still entirely theoretical. Many experts doubt that such a system could ever be realized at all, and if it is, we haven't figured out how to make existing AIs [safe and unbiased](). Ensuring that a far more advanced AGI is benevolent is a tall — and perhaps impossible — task. In any case, we're looking forward to seeing which side of the AI optimism bed Altman wakes up on tomorrow. **More on AI friendliness scale:** [*Ex-OpenAI Safety Researcher Says There’s a 20% Chance of AI Apocalypse*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()