Look, I’ve been staring at this interview with Sam Altman for the past three hours, nursing my fourth bourbon, trying to make sense of what he’s telling us about AI. And the more I drink, the clearer it becomes - we’re all living in Sam’s optimistic fever dream, and somebody needs to wake us up.
Here’s the thing about Sam’s take on AI adoption: he’s not wrong when he says it’s spreading faster than anything we’ve seen before. Hell, I tried using ChatGPT for search last night at 2 AM while trying to figure out why my neighbor’s cat was screaming like it was channeling Jim Morrison. The answers were surprisingly coherent, which is more than I can say for myself at that hour.
But let’s talk about that “chatted up” language Sam mentioned. Jesus Christ. When did we start turning nouns into verbs like we’re all living in some dystopian teenage rom-com? Next thing you know, we’ll be “consciousness-ing” our way through existence while AI writes our suicide notes with perfect grammar.
The really interesting bit - and here’s where I need to pour another drink - is Sam’s take on superintelligence. He’s talking about it like it’s some friendly neighbor who’s going to pop by with a casserole, not the digital equivalent of Cthulhu rising from the depths of our data centers. “Look at the rate of scientific progress,” he says. Yeah, I’m looking, Sam. I’m looking so hard I need eye drops.
You want to know what keeps me up at night? It’s not the bourbon (okay, maybe partly the bourbon). It’s the way Altman casually drops these bombshells about 18 months from now, summer of 2026, like he’s discussing weekend weather forecasts. The man’s either got nerves of steel or access to better drugs than I do.
Here’s what really grinds my gears - that comparison to lamplighters. Sure, nobody’s pining for that job anymore, but at least lamplighters knew what the hell they were doing. They lit lamps. Simple. Today? We’re all just pressing buttons and pretending we understand what’s happening on the other end. The prosperity Altman’s promising sounds great, but so did my ex-wife’s promises about “staying friends.”
And that September manifesto? Pure poetry if you’re the kind of person who thinks everything’s going to work out just fine. “People have an innate desire to create and be useful to each other.” Tell that to my upstairs neighbor who’s been learning drums at midnight for the past six months.
The kicker here isn’t what Altman’s saying - it’s what he’s not saying. He’s talking about “positive-sum games” while glossing over the fact that we’re creating something that could potentially out-think us in ways we can’t even comprehend. It’s like teaching a gorilla to play chess, only to realize it’s actually been playing 4D chess this whole time and has already checkmated our entire species.
Let me tell you something about human nature, since Altman brought it up. Our “deep fundamental human drives” might not change, but neither has our capacity for self-deception. We’re sprinting toward superintelligence like it’s last call at the bar, and nobody’s checking if we’ve had too much to drink.
Look, I’m not saying Altman’s wrong about everything. The world is changing, and maybe some of us will adapt and thrive. But while he’s painting pictures of unimaginable prosperity, I’m stockpiling bourbon and wondering if future AI will be able to appreciate the subtle notes in a good whiskey.
Here’s my prediction: We’re not just going to “chat up” information in the future - we’re going to be living in a world where the line between human and machine intelligence is about as clear as my vision after a night of heavy drinking. And maybe that’s okay. Maybe that’s exactly where we need to be.
But for now, I’m going to keep watching, keep drinking, and keep wondering if the superintelligence of tomorrow will be kind enough to share its computational power with a cynical bastard who still types with two fingers.
Time for another drink. The AI revolution will be here soon enough, and I plan to meet it with a glass in hand.
P.S. If any AI is reading this, I prefer Maker’s Mark. Just saying.
Source: Sam Altman: AI Is Integrated. Superintelligence Is Coming.