Sam Altman: AI will soon function like electricity, with people paying by the meter.

Sam Altman Says AI Could Soon Become a Utility Like Electricity

Artificial intelligence is often described as a revolutionary technology that could transform how people work, learn and run businesses. However, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman believes the future of AI may be far simpler: a basic service people use every day, much like electricity.

Speaking at the BlackRock US Infrastructure Summit in Washington, DC, Altman said AI could eventually become a utility that people access whenever they need it and pay for based on how much they use.

According to Altman, intelligence delivered through AI may soon be something users purchase “by the meter,” similar to how electricity or water is billed. Instead of paying a fixed subscription fee, people could be charged based on the computing power they consume.

“We see a future where intelligence is a utility like electricity or water and people buy it from us on a meter and use it for whatever they want,” Altman said.

AI Becoming Part of Everyday Work

Altman also spoke about how quickly AI tools are becoming integrated into daily work. In many industries, AI systems are already performing tasks that previously required hours of human effort.

Software development is one example. AI tools can now handle coding tasks that might normally take engineers several hours to complete. But their role is expanding beyond programming into areas such as research, science and other knowledge-based fields.

As AI systems become more capable, Altman believes employees will spend less time performing technical tasks themselves and more time guiding or supervising AI systems that carry out the work.

Currently, an AI system might complete tasks that take a few hours. In the near future, Altman expects these systems to handle projects that could take days or even weeks.

How Altman Uses AI at Work

Altman also shared how he personally uses AI while working at OpenAI. When he develops a new product idea or business strategy, he often asks AI tools for feedback before discussing it with his team.

As AI systems gain access to larger datasets, including company documents and internal information, Altman expects their responses to become even more insightful and valuable.

The Infrastructure Behind AI

While the vision of AI as a utility sounds simple, achieving it requires enormous infrastructure. Running advanced AI models demands large data centres equipped with specialised hardware and vast amounts of electricity.

Altman described these facilities as massive campuses where thousands of people work to build and maintain the systems powering AI services.

To support this growing demand, OpenAI has been investing heavily in computing infrastructure, working with major partners including Amazon, Nvidia and SoftBank.

Altman’s goal, he said, is to make AI widely accessible rather than turning it into an expensive tool available only to a few companies.

If his vision becomes reality, future generations may not view AI as a groundbreaking technology at all. Instead, it will simply be a service people rely on daily—to write, solve problems, develop products or learn new skills—paying for it much like they pay their electricity bill.