In a candid conversation hosted by Sequoia Capital, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman reflected on the company’s evolution from a 14-person research lab to a frontrunner in artificial intelligence. The talk, titled "OpenAI’s Sam Altman on Building the ‘Core AI Subscription’ for Your Life," became a blueprint for understanding how Altman envisions a future where AI doesn’t just augment productivity—it becomes a deeply embedded personal infrastructure, an operating system for daily life.
Altman traced OpenAI’s roots back to 2016, when large language models (LLMs) were speculative and the company was still a pure research initiative. The team pursued various experiments, including robot hands and video games, but the release of GPT-3 through an API in 2020 was the first glimpse of real-world traction. Initially, few outside Silicon Valley paid attention, but some startups—particularly those in copywriting—began to build viable businesses.
A pivotal observation soon followed: while most users couldn’t yet monetize GPT-3 effectively, they loved talking to it. Despite the model being poorly optimized for conversation at the time, engagement in OpenAI’s “playground” signaled untapped potential. This insight planted the seed for ChatGPT, which launched in late 2022 and now serves over 500 million users weekly.
The heart of Altman’s current vision centers on transforming ChatGPT into the core AI subscription of your life. This means much more than a chatbot or productivity tool—it’s an ever-present assistant that knows your context across every interaction, device, and service. Imagine an AI that doesn’t need retraining, but instead draws insight from your entire digital history: emails, documents, photos, conversations, and more.
“The platonic ideal is a small model with a trillion-token context window that remembers everything,” Altman explained. “It never needs to be retrained—it just reasons.”
This persistent memory, already rolling out in various forms, is particularly resonating with younger users. College students, Altman notes, treat ChatGPT not as a replacement for Google, but as a life operating system. It helps with decision-making, manages data across services, and even serves as a repository for interpersonal context and ongoing projects.
Altman also shared insights into how OpenAI maintains its rapid pace of innovation. Unlike many tech giants that bloat as they scale, OpenAI keeps teams small and mission-critical.
“The molasses sets in when companies grow without doing more,” he said. “We aim for few people, massive responsibility, and continuous action.”
This nimbleness has allowed the company to expand both horizontally (multiple model sizes and use cases) and vertically (from API infrastructure to consumer-facing products).
While OpenAI is pushing toward a singular AI subscription model, Altman made it clear that the ecosystem will remain open to builders. He hinted at a future SDK or protocol that enables developers to build seamlessly atop the OpenAI stack—perhaps a “new HTTP for the AI internet.” This federated approach would allow a wide array of agents, tools, and services to interact natively, using standardized trust, identity, and payment layers.
Still, Altman was transparent: OpenAI intends to own the central relationship with users, especially for core interactions like chat, voice, and memory.
Altman addressed specific verticals poised for breakout impact:
Altman outlined a rough but compelling progression:
Unlike many in tech who speak in master plans, Altman is adamantly iterative. OpenAI’s strategy is built on a forward-looking, step-by-step approach, not working backwards from a grand vision. He emphasizes adaptability over long-term rigidity.
“People love complex masterplans, but I’ve never seen those people massively succeed,” he said.
In terms of legacy, Altman sees OpenAI as part research lab, part infrastructure company, and part consumer product studio. It’s an ensemble built to explore what comes next—both in AI capability and how society adapts to it.
Conclusion:
Altman’s message is clear: OpenAI isn’t just building tools—it’s building a framework for how humans will think, decide, work, and live in the coming decades. From hyper-contextual assistants to infrastructure-grade APIs, the company is positioning itself as the digital companion for the age of intelligence. Whether it succeeds in owning that “core subscription” remains to be seen—but the ambition is unmistakable.
