OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Sparks Controversy by Comparing AI Training to Human Evolution

At the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi last week, tech industry leaders gathered to discuss artificial intelligence’s expanding role in society—though notably absent was Bill Gates, who withdrew hours before his keynote amid ongoing scrutiny over his connections to the Epstein Files. Despite reports of chaos at the event, including protests and allegations of illegal detentions, luminaries like OpenAI CEO Sam Altman kept the energy high with provocative statements that quickly went viral.

Altman’s media blitz began with an awkward photo opportunity alongside Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other AI executives. In a moment that quickly became symbolic, Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei notably refused to hold hands with each other, breaking the chain of solidarity that others completed.

Throughout the summit, Altman made headlines for calling for “urgent” global AI regulation and suggesting companies might be using AI as a convenient excuse for layoffs—what he termed “AI washing.” But his most controversial remarks came during an interview with The Indian Express, where he addressed concerns about AI’s environmental impact.

Dismissing claims that ChatGPT consumes “17 gallons of water per query” as “completely untrue” and “totally insane,” Altman acknowledged that data centers do consume significant energy. He suggested the responsibility falls to the energy sector to “move towards nuclear or wind and solar very quickly.”

Then came his bombshell comparison that set social media ablaze: “It also takes a lot of energy to train a human. It takes like 20 years of life, and all the food you eat before that time, before you get smart. And not only that, it took like the very widespread evolution of the hundred billion people that have ever lived and learned not to get eaten by predators and learned how to figure out science and whatever to produce you, and then you took whatever you took.”

While the comparison might have landed well at the summit, the internet responded with swift criticism. Social media users labeled Altman’s remarks “dystopian,” “deeply antisocial and antihuman,” and emblematic of Silicon Valley’s disconnect from real-world concerns.

The controversy highlights a broader issue: the AI industry’s lack of transparency regarding its environmental footprint. Currently, no regulations require data centers to disclose their water and energy consumption, and employees are typically bound by nondisclosure agreements that prevent them from sharing information. This opacity has made accurate reporting and research on AI’s true environmental costs extraordinarily difficult.

As AI continues its rapid expansion, the debate over its sustainability—and the responsibility of those leading its development—shows no signs of cooling down.

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Viral Sentences

“It also takes a lot of energy to train a human”
“17 gallons of water for each query”
“completely untrue, totally insane, no connection to reality”
“move towards nuclear or wind and solar very quickly”
“deeply antisocial and antihuman”
“AI washing”
“full steam ahead on the technological hype train”
“dystopian Silicon Valley logic”
“the evolution of the hundred billion people that have ever lived”
“most soulless slop you’ve ever seen”

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