Altman plans D.C. push to "democratize" AI economic benefits

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman will use a swing through Washington this week to argue that AI is already making Americans more productive — and to promise to keep AI "democratic" by getting it in as many hands as possible, sources tell Axios.Why it matters: Altman wants to continue driving debate over the effect AI will have on jobs. In an appearance Tuesday at a major Federal Reserve conference, Altman will offer what an adviser calls a "third path" between the bulls and the doomers.Democratized vs. concentrated: A source familiar with Altman's thinking told us in an exclusive preview that his vision is "not all doomerism downside and not hand-waving away concerns — but focused on democratizing benefits (getting them into the hands of people to do stuff), not concentrating them in the hands of the few."Democratic vs. autocratic: It'll be the economic counterpart to a geopolitical case Altman made one year ago this week. In a Washington Post op-ed, he wrote that a U.S.-led "democratic vision for AI" must prevail over authoritarian governments that are "willing to spend enormous amounts of money to catch up and ultimately overtake us."By the numbers: In data being reported here for the first time, OpenAI says ChatGPT users send more than 2.5 billion prompts each day globally. More than 330 million of those daily prompts are in the U.S.The free version of ChatGPT is used by the vast majority of the platform's more than 500 million weekly active users, OpenAI says. Zoom in: On Tuesday, Altman will join Michelle Bowman, the Fed's new vice chair for supervision, for a fireside chat at a bank regulation conference before an audience that includes Fed officials and Wall Street executives.A new economic analysis by OpenAI chief economist Ronnie Chatterji will be released in conjunction with Altman's Fed appearance.It's AI Week in D.C.: President Trump on Wednesday will keynote a "Winning the AI Race" summit, hosted by the All‑In Podcast and the Hill & Valley Forum.Also on Wednesday, the White House is expected to release its long-awaited 20-page AI Action Plan — which promises a hands-off, pro-growth approach, Axios tech policy reporters Maria Curi and Ashley Gold scooped last week."Over the course of the week," the source told us, "OpenAI will make the case that democratizing the economic benefits begins with putting these tools in the hands of people to do stuff so they have an opportunity to participate in the prosperity.""OpenAI sees AI fundamentally as a productivity-driving technology," the source continued. "The big question isn't if it will grow the economic pie — it's who gets how much of a slice. ... It's not about stopping disruption, but putting it into people's hands so they have the opportunity to benefit."The big picture: Altman tweeted last week, in support of comments by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, that AI will allow people to "do a lot more than they could do before; ability and expectation will both go up," although "for sure jobs will be very different."Altman added that "maybe the jobs of the future will look like playing games to us today while still being very meaningful to those people of the future. (people of the past might say that about us.)"The bottom line: Altman wrote in an essay last month that the AI industry is building "a brain for the world," and said that intelligence "too cheap to meter is well within grasp."Go deeper: Inside Trump's AI Action Plan.

Comments

World news

Epstein lawyer says Ghislaine Maxwell knows ‘everything’ and should get immunity to testify to Congress

Independent

Comments

World news

Epstein lawyer says Ghislaine Maxwell knows ‘everything’ and should get immunity to testify to Congress

Two Israelis questioned by police at Belgium music festival over Gaza war crime allegations

Bravo TV star accused of attacking a woman with a rock-filled sock at a Walmart self-checkout

After Obama prison video, Trump says another top Democrat is in ‘Big Trouble’

The Latest: Harvard heads to court in $2.6B lawsuit against Trump administration

Exclusive: Don Jr. and Eric Trump’s Middle East jaunt cost US taxpayers over $40,000 in hotel rooms and rental cars

The rise of the QAnon conspiracy and why the Epstein files matter

Where’s the relief? Ground beef prices hit record-high of $6.12 per pound

Obama-appointed Florida judge to preside over Trump’s $10B suit against Murdoch and WSJ

‘Go big or go home’: Husband accused of killing his wife and hiding remains for a month

5 years after Ohio's $60M bribery scandal, critics say more could be done to prevent a repeat

Dad sparked an AMBER alert after saying his child was ‘kidnapped’ in New York. Now he’s facing a murder charge

What order? Trump team ignoring 1 in 3 major judicial rulings against them, analysis finds

Americans feel Trump has gone too far with mass deportations, new polls find

All the times Trump has 'wrote a picture' as he denies Epstein birthday card report

New US Visa fee is introduced - are holidaymakers from the UK impacted?

Husband died after being pulled into MRI machine by metal chain during wife's scan in freak accident

British teens recruited to world’s most feared mafia – the Black Axe gang

No, MAGA Is Not Isolationist

New Houthi Tactics Call for New, Non-Western Solutions

Baby deaths warning as inadequate maternity care found in hundreds of stillbirths

When the new EU border entry system starts and what it will mean for e-gates

State pension age rise ‘inevitable’, says Farage – as future of triple lock in doubt

The way we rent is about to change dramatically

King Charles is quite right to be fussy about his garden

Ellen DeGeneres says Donald Trump is the reason she moved to U.K.

Naked blood-drinking Black Axe 'mafia' feared to be recruiting UK 'money mules'

Brit teen who fell to death from Ibiza Rocks Hotel identified as ice hockey star

Mirror's Daily Digest - top five stories you need to read tonight

Woman having MRI scan describes horrifying moment her husband was killed when the machine pulled him in

Celebrity birthdays for the week of July 27-Aug. 2

PHOTO ESSAY: A Texas town's residents stay inside -- even when they need medical care

The largest wildfire in the US this year looks set to become a ‘megafire’ after covering nearly 100,000 acres

Mapped: Where and how Israel has ramped up its latest attack on the Gaza Strip

From eight-year-old ‘influencers’ to trans anarchists, today’s gun owners aren’t who you think

John Oliver mourns ‘incredibly sad’ cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show

US government agencies are under attack in widespread Microsoft hack

Israel depriving Gazans of ‘human dignity’, says UK and 24 other countries in call to end war now

When is the next solar eclipse?

Lawyer shaves his head in protest but misses a spot

Ibiza Rocks suspends all events after third Brit dies at party hotel

First look inside Putin’s secret ‘death’ factory where teenagers build drones

Why Trump Keeps Betraying His Base

Jon Stewart shares fears for Daily Show’s future after Colbert’s Late Show axed

At least 19 people dead after Bangladesh air force plane crashes into school

Israeli forces launch ground assault in central Gazan city for first time

Who killed George Murdoch? Theories behind unsolved ‘cheese wire murder’

The four changes in water report that could affect you – including compulsory meters

The steamy, subversive rise of the summer novel

Tim Davie saved the BBC – Lisa Nandy fires him at her peril

August 2025 DWP payment dates for benefits and pensions, in full

Body found in hunt for missing jogger Rachel Booth

How much more your pension could be worth if contributions rise by 1% to 4%

UK to hold inquiry into violent clash between police and miners during 1984 strike

Iran to hold nuclear talks with Euro nations, the first since ceasefire with Israel

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba to stay on to tackle challenges such as US tariffs despite election loss

Rescuers work to free an injured cave explorer trapped more than 130 feet underground in Italy

UN concerned by Taliban’s arrest of Afghan women and girls for dress code violations

UK police arrest 6 after protesters descend on a hotel housing asylum seekers

Kenyan pro-democracy activist charged with alleged possession of ammunition