OpenAI's Altman sees 2026 as a turning point for AI in business
STORY: :: June 2, 2025
:: San Francisco, California
:: Sam Altman says 2026 will be a big year for AI solving problems and making discoveries
:: Sam Altman, CEO, OpenAI
'I think we'll be at the point next year where you can not only use the system to sort of automate some business processes or fill these new products and services, but you can really say, I have this hugely important problem in my business. I will throw tons of compute at it if you can solve it. And the models will be able to go figure out things that teams of people on their own can't do."
'I would bet next year that in some limited cases, at least in some small ways, we start to see agents that can help us discover new knowledge or can figure out solutions to business problems that are kind of very nontrivial. Right now, it's very much in the category of, okay, if you got something like repetitive cognitive work, we can automate it at a kind of a low level on a short time horizon."
'So what an enterprise will be able to do, we talked about this a little bit, but just like give it your hardest problem if you're a chip design company, say go design me a better chip than I could have possibly had before. If you're a biotech company trying to cure some disease, so just go work on this for me. Like that's not so far away.'
Speaking alongside Conviction founder Sarah Guo and Snowflake CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy, Altman said companies prepared to harness the full potential of AI will experience a 'step change' as models evolve from automating routine tasks to tackling non-trivial challenges.
'I would bet next year that, at least in some small ways, we start to see agents that can help us discover new knowledge,' Altman said, adding that future systems may significantly accelerate scientific discovery.
Se produjo un error al recuperar la información
Inicia sesión para acceder a tu portafolio
Se produjo un error al recuperar la información
Se produjo un error al recuperar la información
Se produjo un error al recuperar la información
Se produjo un error al recuperar la información
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

Business Insider
24 minutes ago
- Business Insider
How Digital Realty is upgrading its data centers for AI — and trying to stay green
This article is part of " Build IT: Connectivity," a series about tech powering better business. Digital Realty, a data center operator, is scaling up its infrastructure to keep up with AI's growth. But the tricky part is to do so in an environmentally friendly way. The International Energy Agency found that in 2024, data centers accounted for 1.5% of global electricity use. By 2030, that number could nearly double, reaching levels just above Japan's current annual energy consumption. In addition, AI infrastructure is cooled with enormous amounts of water. A report from the University of Tulsa found that a single facility can use up to 5 million gallons per day, enough to supply thousands of homes. With governments and companies pouring billions into AI infrastructure, those resource demands are only expected to grow. Through close collaboration between its sustainability, engineering, and design teams, Digital Realty, which operates more than 300 data centers worldwide, is working to reduce carbon emissions. That means sourcing more renewable energy, upgrading cooling systems, and rethinking where — and how — new sites are built from the ground up. To understand how Digital Realty is preparing for that future, Business Insider spoke with Aaron Binkley, vice president of sustainability, and Shea McKeon, global head of design and engineering, about the company's sustainability strategy. In a roundtable conversation, Binkley and McKeon shared how their teams are working together to cut emissions, balance business demands with sustainability goals, and stay ahead of AI trends in the data center world. The following has been edited for length and clarity. Business Insider: How do your roles and teams at Digital Realty contribute to the company's overall decarbonization strategy? Aaron Binkley: My role is global. I oversee sustainability efforts across the company, including work around renewables, decarbonization, development and construction, operations of in-service data centers, and collaboration on green finance, clean energy, energy performance, water, and more. A big part of my job is acting as a convener, bringing people together to ensure we're working collaboratively and surfacing the best ideas. Shea McKeon: I sit in the design, engineering, and construction department, which oversees all new developments and major renovation projects around the world. We're responsible for integrating sustainability into our new builds and working with operations and energy management to bring existing facilities up to the latest standards. Digital Realty has ambitious targets to cut direct and indirect emissions per square foot by 60% and supply chain emissions by 24% — each by 2030. How are your teams collaborating to hit those goals? Binkley: We think about how we build, power, and operate sustainable data centers. That starts with understanding emissions across the data center lifecycle. Design and construction impact embodied carbon, or the total amount of emissions associated with the data center lifecycle, from metal extraction to construction, all the way to equipment disposal. Operationally, it's all about electricity use. So we work closely with our energy procurement and strategy teams to decarbonize our electricity supply. For Scope 1 emissions, referring to direct emissions from sources owned by our company, we're switching from burning mainly diesel in backup generators to renewable fuels like hydrotreated vegetable oil, a diesel-like fuel which we've deployed across 17% of our operating portfolio. But 98% of our Scope 1 and 2 emissions, which include the indirect emissions from purchased energy, come from electricity, so that's the big nut we need to crack. We prioritize opportunities based on where we can make the biggest impact, designing efficient facilities and powering them with renewables. McKeon: I'd say on the Scope 3 emissions side, which are indirect emissions from the data center supply chain, that's where my team can really have an impact. We're constantly working with our design and construction partners to make sure we're specifying the right materials to help bring those emissions down. It's always at the forefront of our designs. We also partner with Aaron's team during our annual business reviews with key suppliers. We just wrapped those up recently, and Scope 3 emissions were one of the topics we discussed — how suppliers are performing and what we can do to improve. It's a never-ending, iterative process, but collaboration is key to making progress. AI models are creating a demand for computing power. How are you balancing this growth with your sustainability targets? Binkley: We've seen AI coming. It's front of mind now, and a significant portion of our bookings are AI-related. Even as our portfolio grows, we haven't pulled back on any sustainability commitments. We've made strong progress on sourcing renewables and decarbonization. We plan for that, and as AI pushes greater demand, we adjust our plans: rethink sourcing, get more integrated with acquisitions, and get involved earlier in planning and design. We're even part of early utility conversations when acquiring land, asking for clean energy solutions before we've started moving dirt. We're also using AI internally to improve energy and water efficiency. We developed an in-house program called Apollo AI to optimize building management systems across our portfolio. The platform helps our facility engineers find hidden anomalies like clogged filters and leaky valves and suggests improvements that can help drive energy savings. We also have AI tools focused on water systems, helping us fine-tune cooling performance and water chemistry to reduce waste. We really try to squeeze every last drop of productivity out of the energy and water we consume. McKeon: We're planning for 100% of our future buildings to have the capability to deploy liquid cooling directly to the chip, where coolant is circulated through metal plates attached to graphics processing units to remove heat. For those that don't, our engineering team is building roadmaps so we're ready if customers want to use energy-intensive technologies like generative AI that require high levels of compute power. Our modular design approach helps us learn and adapt quickly. And with liquid cooling, you don't need as much square footage per megawatt anymore. That's going to change how buildings are designed moving forward. What's the biggest challenge in aligning technical engineering demands and sustainability goals? Binkley: Our sustainability standards are part of our building codes, but the maximum amount of emissions that can be reduced in our facilities still varies based on customer usage. Some customers move into the data centers fully and operate at high intensity; others ramp up slowly. Modularity helps us handle those variations. The speed of growth is also a challenge — we need to stay ahead of customer demand, line up renewables, and anticipate equipment needs that take a long time to procure. We're building physical infrastructure, which takes years. You can't just flip a switch. McKeon: We're a multi-tenant facility. We lease out space to our customers, so while we control the infrastructure, the customer ultimately controls how they operate within that space. We can design proactively with energy efficiency in mind, and we encourage best practices like airflow containment and optimal temperature settings. But at the end of the day, we don't dictate how customers use their equipment. That creates a bit of a disconnect. Our engineering team can build in sustainability features, but our operations team has to be reactive depending on how each tenant deploys. Some customers come in and run at high utilization, which is great from an efficiency standpoint. Others move in slowly or use a mix of equipment that can affect how well the facility runs. So there's a line between what we can control and what we can influence. Luckily, our operations team is very sophisticated. They use automation, data, and AI to adapt in real time, dialing in temperature and managing airflow, all to run as efficiently as possible. Looking ahead, how are you evolving your decarbonization strategy over the next few years? Binkley: We're not pulling back on our commitments. We'll stay the course, and perhaps even get more aggressive. Clean energy is harder to source now, but still available. We've been able to secure renewables that offer real value and reduce costs. We're also going deeper into Scope 3 with our supplier engagement program, working with vendors to reduce the carbon footprint of the materials and products we buy. McKeon: I'd echo that. Sustainability is embedded in our design process. It's not just a benchmark — it's part of our culture. Our local teams are empowered to innovate project by project, and our global teams constantly share best practices. What works in France might be relevant in Chicago. It's a contagious, exciting environment to be in.


Bloomberg
29 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
23andMe Judge Questions Limits for New Auction for Bankrupt Firm
The judge overseeing the bankruptcy of 23andMe questioned the limits proposed for a second auction that is designed to push bids higher than a current $256 million offer from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals for the genetic-testing firm. US Bankruptcy Judge Brian Walsh asked lawyers for Regeneron and 23andMe to justify the limits they're supporting, but which have been criticized by the only other bidder, a California-based research institute backed by former 23andMe Chief Executive Officer Anne Wojcicki.


Business Insider
35 minutes ago
- Business Insider
Inside KPMG's $100 million AI investment: How Google Cloud's partnership is fueling the firm's new AI services
KPMG is a professional services company and one of the Big Four accounting firms in the US. It offers audit, tax, and advisory services to organizations in multiple sectors, including healthcare, finance, banking, and more. KPMG has more than 90 offices and 36,000 employees in the US. It also operates in more than 140 countries. Situation analysis Steve Chase, vice chair of artificial intelligence and digital innovation at KPMG, said part of the company's business involves helping organizations across industries modernize their operations with technology, including their accounting systems and customer service. Recently, Chase said more clients have sought assistance in incorporating artificial intelligence and cloud services into their digital transformation strategies. To help, KPMG announced an expansion of its partnership with Google Cloud in November to advance GenAI, data analytics, and cybersecurity for its clients. The expansion includes a $100 million investment in KPMG's Google Cloud practice. Chase said the goal is to tailor AI services to specific customers, business models, and industries so that these organizations can use AI to improve their businesses, such as by speeding up data analysis. The expanded Google Cloud partnership will initially focus on clients in the retail, healthcare, and financial services industries. Key staff and partners Chase said KPMG has been using AI for several years and has had a long-standing relationship with Google. In 2024, KPMG created the Google Cloud Center of Excellence to combine Google's AI technologies with its own expertise to help clients use AI to boost their businesses. Its latest partnership expansion involves creating new AI tools. KPMG also works with Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, and other tech companies on other AI-related projects. AI in Action KPMG has been using Google Cloud's Vertex AI Search, an AI development platform for building and using GenAI, internally to connect and analyze its vast amount of data. Chase said the company is using this information to develop GenAI agents for clients, such as chatbots to answer questions or tools to gather and analyze data, to address various business challenges and expand capabilities. For example, Chase said KPMG is using Vertex AI and Gemini, a Google Cloud AI-powered assistant, to help financial services companies automate tasks that have been cumbersome for humans, including fraud detection and loan applications. Chase added that KPMG also built an AI "store performance analyzer" for a large retailer. The tool allows the company to use automation to speed up and combine information from store locations, such as inventory levels, sales data, and details about the location, to determine how it performs compared to other stores. "It's able to actually do a detailed analysis in a fast way," which used to be completed by a team of people and take longer, Chase said. "Now, the people involved are actually reviewing the results, as opposed to doing all the manual work of pulling all the data together." For healthcare clients, KPMG is using Google Cloud's Healthcare API to develop AI tools that help doctors improve disease detection, treatment, and overall patient care. Did it work, and how did leaders know? Chase said that KPMG's partnership with Google Cloud could drive $1 billion incremental growth for the firm. "We've been super pleased with how it's going," he said. While he said the company couldn't disclose specifics on how it'll reach this figure, he said it will be a multi-year initiative that involves adding new clients and expanding the AI services it offers to existing companies. KPMG continues to roll out new AI initiatives. In April, the company announced another expansion of its collaboration with Google Cloud on AI tools for the legal and banking industries. KPMG also announced that it's joining the Google Cloud Security Partner Program to enhance cybersecurity for its clients.