Super Intelligence

Super Intelligence" (October 2023) is Altman's most direct statement of his core belief: superintelligence is not a fictional concept but a near-term engineering project, and the mission of building it safely is among the most important undertakings in human history. The essay was published weeks before the governance crisis but reads as if Altman knew it was coming — it is unusually direct about what OpenAI is actually trying to build and why. Key claims: superintelligence will likely arrive within the next decade; it will be the most disruptive technology ever built; the question of who builds it first and under what constraints is more important than any geopolitical issue currently dominating attention; and the only responsible approach is to build it first under safety-focused governance rather than leave the first-mover position to less safety-conscious developers. The essay crystallizes the "race to the top, not the bottom" logic: because superintelligence is probably being developed somewhere, the ethical choice is to be the best-positioned organization to get there first and then ensure its governance is beneficial. Critics who believe AI development should be paused or slowed identify this essay as the clearest statement of the reasoning they oppose — that safety and speed are compatible because safety-focused organizations need to stay at the frontier.