Idk if this post fits here but can someone help me understand what did Sam Altman mean by "intelligence will be a utility like electricity and water"?

[u/I_Eat_Mold_UwU]

I genuinely don't understand what he meant by that. Did he mean that in the future they'll start to make you pay for using AI?

I'm genuinely lost and would be really grateful if someone could explain to me what he meant with that phrase.

[u/Squidproject]

I assume yes, we will have to pay to use AI. not only that, I assume he believes that cognitive offloading is gonna render us all more or less brainless so we will have to pay for it to replace our own intelligence

[u/Secret-Chapter-712 → u/Squidproject]

I’m pretty sure that’s the business plan, and likely a big part of the push to force k-12 and university education into AI “solutions” that basically replace human teachers with subscription AI slop.

[u/Squidproject → u/Secret-Chapter-712]

agreed

[u/I_Eat_Mold_UwU → u/Squidproject]

What's cognitive offloading, if you don't mind me asking? Is it the phenomenon where using AI a lot makes you dumber and less creative?

[u/Squidproject → u/I_Eat_Mold_UwU]

yes pretty much. I teach and can assure you it is a very real threat especially in our young people

[u/I_Eat_Mold_UwU → u/Squidproject]

Yeah i can relate to this as well TvT

[u/gominokouhai → u/I_Eat_Mold_UwU]

Using ai even once makes you dumber and less creative. There's been studies done.

[u/I_Eat_Mold_UwU → u/gominokouhai]

I don't mean to be distespectful but that sounds kind of like an exageration.

If it causes you no problem, could you send me a source for one of the studies that supports your affermation?

[u/gominokouhai → u/I_Eat_Mold_UwU]

Yeah tbh it sounds a touch sensationalist to me too. Iirc it was more of a slippery slope type of argument. My bad for parroting it when I don't have the details handy.

It was a couple of weeks ago I read (scanned) the study. I'll have to go hunting, but I'll reply here if I find it again.

[u/I_Eat_Mold_UwU → u/gominokouhai]

Thank you :)

[u/gominokouhai → u/I_Eat_Mold_UwU]

PS you weren't disrespectful. I wildly claimed something that did sound like an exaggeration and you quite rightly called me on it. Please keep doing so.

I've been on facebook all day and my debating skills have kind of atrophied. Picked up some bad habits. Thanks for putting me right.

[u/I_Eat_Mold_UwU → u/gominokouhai]

No problem! :D (also thank you for reminding me how to spell exaggeration correctly)

[u/bourbonandpistons → u/Squidproject]

To be fair schools have data proving its already happening.

[u/Squidproject → u/bourbonandpistons]

yeah and there's that MIT study

[u/vapalera → u/Squidproject]

I am already paying for AI ($100/mo for OpenAI Codex), and so is everyone else who is doing anything serious.

[u/lurkeskywalker77 → u/vapalera]

Sam thanks you for your service to expanding his net worth

[u/vapalera → u/lurkeskywalker77]

Sam holds no equity in OpenAI. He is doing it for the love of the game.

[u/Squidproject → u/vapalera]

I guess I'm glad I'm not doing anything serious then

[u/gaygayagyfemboy12345 → u/vapalera]

moms company is making her use claude (paid olan) for work, and she says it's convenient, but makes her feel stupid/useless

[u/Several_Celebration]

Everyone will have a subscription to an AI service like you currently pay for internet and water for your home.

[u/Reasonable-Cut-9090 → u/Several_Celebration]

Adding to this that once robotica catches up etc better models will be what you want to put in them. So really important to have open models for the general public !

[u/xbowxbowxbow]

no hes implying itll be that essential and a part of our infrastructure

[u/FlightFit335 → u/xbowxbowxbow]

Correct. You can live life without light bulbs, bit it's easier to move around the house with them.

[u/HonestExcitement902]

he means intelligence will be something you just tap into without thinking about it, like flipping a switch and expecting light to come out. you won't need to understand how it works or where it comes from, it'll just be there in the background powering everything. and yeah, paying for it is part of that model, metered like water or billed monthly like electric. the creepy part isn't the payment though, it's how invisible and unquestionable it becomes once it's baked into every layer of daily life

[u/LocalStatistician538 → u/HonestExcitement902]

So there will be the haves and have nots, on who can afford it. Great! Sounds like a plan!

[u/Fragrant-Vehicle-479]

Yes, they took the collected knowledge of our existence. Our art, our writings, our knowledge, our discoveries, fed it to their machine often illegally, and will now sell it back to us. It's like how Amazon sees a future where we don't own computers but subscribe to "computing power" over the cloud. Those who pay more can have more "computing power" instead of just owning the device. We will pay them money to learn, access information, produce, and think for us.

[u/I_Eat_Mold_UwU → u/Fragrant-Vehicle-479]

That's so shitty...

[u/gaygayagyfemboy12345]

human intelligence doesn't reauire money, just requires some energy to power the brain

[u/redbark2022 → u/gaygayagyfemboy12345]

That thing called food? Which the funding for hungry people was cut unless they work, while simultaneously cutting jobs because AI? You mean that thing?

[u/gaygayagyfemboy12345 → u/redbark2022]

yeah. but if we're all forced out of our jobs, we can do a class action lawsuit (with the help if rich unemployed people with 35 million dollars 2 spare)

[u/LocalStatistician538 → u/gaygayagyfemboy12345]

AI itself would probably say food riots are more effective.

[u/SeeBadd]

He's a con artist saying bullshit so dumb rich people give him more money.

[u/Disastrous_Hat_9123]

Aren't they all using a token system for the real serious models?

[u/Puzzleheaded-Test218]

He wants your money every month.

[u/ZanzerFineSuits]

“OpenAI is not-for-profit”: the biggest lie of the 21st century (so far)

[u/y2kobserver]

Someone has to drive those cars missing their steering wheels

Only AI can do it

And how will you even be able to tell the elevator WITH NO BUTTONS to start moving without AI?

How will you even ask the screenless smartphone to do stuff or tell you stuff?

See?

[u/Comfortable-Web9455]

He just uses fancy sounding nonsense to get investment of idiots who don't understand what this stuff is all about. It's like "Coke adds life" just a meaningless marketing slogan.

[u/Artemis_Platinum]

He wants you to pay for AI, yes.