Altman advises CEOs to secure AI capacity now

In Short:
– Altman urges executives to secure AI resources and integrate AI into operations to remain competitive.
– He predicts advanced AI could outperform executives, impacting white-collar jobs and shifting employment balance.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has urged company executives to prioritise securing AI resources, reassessing how they track AI usage, and integrating AI into their operations to avoid falling behind in the evolving landscape of artificial intelligence.In an interview with Axios, Altman presented three recommendations for organisations planning AI integration over the next year. He advised leaders to lock in AI capacity immediately due to anticipated supply constraints caused by growing demand.

AI capacity concerns

Altman encouraged firms to shift their metrics, stating that they should evaluate true usage of AI for innovation rather than tracking token consumption. Furthermore, he stressed the importance of CEOs personally incorporating AI into their daily workflows.

His guidance underscores the potential risk of automation for executive roles. Altman suggested that advanced AI could outperform human executives, predicting the arrival of such systems within a few years.

At the BlackRock’s 2026 U.S. Infrastructure Summit, he described AI as having reached “major economic utility.” He envisioned a future where intelligence is widely accessible and integrated into everyday applications.

OpenAI’s computing capacity has surged, tripling to approximately 1.9 gigawatts as of 2025. Altman’s long-term objective includes establishing a factory aimed at producing a gigawatt of new AI infrastructure weekly, acknowledging the ambitious nature of this goal.

Workforce implications

Altman’s insights come during a broader examination of AI’s effect on employment, particularly white-collar jobs. He warned of an impending shift in the balance between labour and capital, predicting that by late 2028, more intellectual capacity may be found within data centres than outside.

The ongoing compute shortage raises critical concerns for businesses, with executives emphasising the risks of miscalculating infrastructure investments. Significant investment in AI by tech giants has coincided with job cuts, highlighting the intersection of technological advancement and workforce displacement.