OpenAI's Sam Altman says AI will leave people busier, not idle

Sam Altman, who runs OpenAI, said he does not expect AI to give most people a shorter work week. He said so on the podcast Relentless, in an episode posted July 25.

This touches anyone who worries about their job or hopes AI will free up their time. Altman thinks the gains from AI will go into doing more, not working less.

Altman said technology has long promised more leisure. People do have more free time than at many points in history, he said, but the four-hour work week never arrived for most of society. He does not expect AI to change that. He thinks people always want more and keep finding new things to create for each other.

He described a wish to be useful and to serve others. Then he said this at 46:19.

"we're all going to be much busier than we thought we were supposed to be in a post super intelligence world"

The Times of India on MSN reported on Oct. 22 that Altman says coders are about to get busier than ever. Its story says he sees demand for software running past earlier expectations, and that AI has changed coding work without ending the need for developers.

These are Altman's own expectations, and he gave no numbers. OpenAI sells AI tools, so it has a stake in a world where people use them more. He also said people will still complain about being busy, but will secretly be happy.

Watch the 3 minutes where he explains it.44:43