OpenAI Staff Tease Intelligence “Too Cheap to Meter” and Another Release

# OpenAI Staff Tease Intelligence Too Cheap To Meter OpenAI researchers highlight an imminent release of low-cost artificial intelligence capabilities. Research Engineer Tibo Sottiaux posted that the week centers on intelligence too cheap to meter and that a new shipment occurs the next day. President and co-founder Greg Brockman quoted the message with the phrase the tokens must flow. The statements frame an internal push to deliver advanced AI at negligible cost. No further shipment details or timelines appear in the supplied evidence. The posts reflect ongoing internal emphasis on scaling accessible AI systems. ## Reactions from ranked influencers This week is all about intelligence too cheap to meter. Tomorrow we ship again. the tokens must flow [...] the tokens must flow This week is all about intelligence too cheap to meter. Tomorrow we ship again. @thsottiaux zoom zoom mf's here I was worried it was getting to the end of july I'm a little confused. According to Sam's pro

“We see a future where intelligence is a utility, like electricity or water, and people buy it from us on a meter,” said Altman, laying out an intensely dystopian future as just another business development. “One of the most important things in the future is that we make intelligence, to borrow an old phrase from the energy industry that didn’t quite work, ‘Too cheap to meter.’” [...] When I first heard what Altman had said, I was shocked and bewildered. How does someone even conceive of metering (and monetizing) intelligence if they’re not a tech billionaire with an intense antipathy toward humanity? It was clearly not something that would ever be achieved in practice. But it did hint at a much deeper issue with these AI tools, what they’re doing to our cognitive capacities, and the broader ideology underpinning the industry’s effort to force AI into every facet of our lives. ## Enclosing intelligence [...] Sam Altman proposing to literally meter intelligence is just the most egregio

... Fortune # ‘Intelligence too cheap to meter’ is AI’s next frontier, Sam Altman says Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, speaks at the Federal Reserve’s Integrated Review of the Capital Framework for Large Banks Conference in Washington, D.C., July 22, 2025. · Fortune · Al Drago—Bloomberg/Getty Images Nick Lichtenberg 5 min read OPAI.PVT [...] Altman captured the phenomena with a striking phrase: "It does in fact look like we're about to deliver on 'intelligence too cheap to meter.' We've been able to drive down the cost of each unit of intelligence by more than a factor of 10 each year for the last five years." He described a personal anecdote where a coding task, once days of work for an expert, was now solved by AI in five minutes for "less than a dollar's worth of compute tokens." ## AI will make the phrase 'AI company' obsolete [...] Throughout the conversation, Altman urged governments and businesses to move quickly but mindfully in adopting AI, stressing the importance of regul

# Interconnected ##### A blog by Matt Webb ##### Subscribe for $0 ##### Unoffice Hours ##### a.k.a. genmon ##### Building the AI clock ## Intelligence too cheap to meter ##### 14.48, Friday 6 Oct 2023 Link to this post The ubicomp manoeuvre was to realise that Moore’s Law cuts both ways. Moore’s Law: pound for pound, computers double in power every 18 months. Or 100x over ten years. (And let’s forget about the death of Moore’s Law. We’ve been stuck in an AI overhang and I’m 100% sure there is a lab someone using AI to jiggle up silicon pathways literally as I write this.) If computers get 100 times more powerful over a decade, we can EQUIVALENTLY say that computers get: 100 times smaller; or 100 times cheaper; or 100 times more abundant. [...] Ok. BY ANALOGY: If future AI models will be more and more intelligent (per watt, or per penny, or per cubit foot, whatever we choose measure) then we can equivalently say that, in the future, today’s AI models will become cheaper and

Sign up Sign in Sign up Sign in Unknown user ## Predict Predict where the future is written Member-only story # You’ll Buy AI ‘On a Meter’ Like Electricity-Sam Altman (And the Internet Immediately Called It Dystopian) ## The OpenAI CEO told a room of infrastructure investors people will rent intelligence like a utility. Reddit pointed out the irony: utilities are regulated, low-margin businesses. That’s not exactly the pitch for a $300 billion valuation. Tasmia Sharmin -- 1 Listen Share A 90-second video clip of Sam Altman describing artificial intelligence as a metered utility went viral this week, racking up millions of views and sparking immediate backlash. [...] “We see a future where intelligence is a utility, like electricity or water, and people buy it from us on a meter,” Altman said during a conversation at BlackRock’s 2026 Infrastructure Summit in Washington, D.C. on March 11. The clip was posted to X by the account @TheChiefNerd on March 12. Within hours, it

Recognizing the signals of how this market will unfold—whether labs successfully lock in their advantage or if commoditization rapidly occurs—will help companies navigate and capture maximum value in a world where intelligence could soon become too cheap to meter. Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify? Editorial StandardsReprints & Permissions LOADING VIDEO PLAYER... FORBES’ FEATURED Video [...] Innovation # Intelligence Too Cheap To Meter: Positioning For The Future Of AI Forbes Technology Council ByAxel Backlund, Forbes Councils Member. for Forbes Technology Council COUNCIL POST Expertise from Forbes Councils members, operated under license. Opinions expressed are those of the author. | Membership (fee-based) Axel Backlund, CTO and Cofounder of Andon Labs. As AI models become increasingly powerful and cost-effective, the critical question for businesses and investors becomes: Who will