--- title: "Sam Altman Says the Main Thing He’s Excited About Next Year Is Achieving AGI" description: "Big Resolutions Most people's New Year resolutions include going to the gym or budgeting better — but for OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, the new year means ushering in the singularity. During a talk with Gary Tan, the president and CEO of the Y Combinator startup incubator that Altman once led and was subsequently fired from […]" date: "2024-11-11" modified: "2024-11-11" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/sam-altman-excited-agi-2025" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "OpenAI" tags: - "agi" - "OpenAI" - "sam altman" - "the digest" --- # Sam Altman Says the Main Thing He’s Excited About Next Year Is Achieving AGI ![Most people's New Year resolutions include going to the gym — but for OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, the new year means ushering in AGI.]() *TURIN, ITALY - SEPTEMBER 25: Sam Altman Co-founder and CEO of OpenAI speaks during the Italian Tech Week 2024 at OGR Officine Grandi Riparazioni on September 25, 2024 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Stefano Guidi/Getty Images) \Image: Stefano Guidi / Getty Images\* ## New Life Many people's New Year resolutions involve going to the gym or budgeting better — but for OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, the new year means ushering in the singularity. During a [talk with Gary Tan](), the president and CEO of the Y Combinator startup incubator that Altman once led and was [subsequently fired from in 2019](), Altman was almost flippant when suggesting that artificial general intelligence (AGI) would be achieved within the next calendar year. "What are you excited about in 2025?" Tan asked his predecessor. "What's to come?" "AGI," Altman immediately responded. "I'm excited for that." https://www.twitter.com/tsarnick/status/1854988648745517297 He then went on to drop the bombshell that he and his husband, [Oliver Mulherin](), are having a child. "I'm more excited for that than I've probably ever been," Altman said as Tan congratulated him. "That's the thing I'm most excited for, ever, in life." Be that as it may, choosing to drop the baby news *after* jumping to say how stoked he is for AGI does suggest some unusual priorities. ## Resolved Notably, Altman's proclamation about AGI's imminent arrival in 2025 occurred just days after [telling "20VC" podcast host Harry Stebbings]() that within five years, the technology will have come and gone. "I think in 5 years, it looks like we have an unbelievably rapid rate of improvement in technology itself," the OpenAI CEO said. "People are like, man, the AGI moment came and went." Altman went on to say that he thinks within that time frame, "society itself" will have changed "surprisingly little" — a [statement he's made before](), even as other OpenAI insiders grow ever more concerned about AGI changing things for the worse. Indeed, just a few weeks ago, the firm's outgoing AGI readiness czar [Miles Brundage wrote on his personal Substack]() that he'd quit OpenAI because he [doesn't think the company is prepared]() to handle the gravity of what it's building. After his departure, OpenAI dissolved its AGI readiness team, which seems to illustrate the point perfectly. With these back-to-back Altman statements normalizing an imminent AGI future, two questions arise: is human-level AI [actually that close to being achieved](), and if so, [do we really want OpenAI to be in charge of it]()? **More on AGI:** [*AI Bros Terrified Singularity Will Hit While Trump Is President*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()