OpenAI's Sam Altman says GPT-5 could 'save a lot of lives,' fuel $100B enterprise AI boom
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says the launch of ChatGPT-5 marks a major step forward in AI capabilities, one he believes could help save lives and unlock massive economic value.
"You can imagine, like a physician assistant, that a company could build with GPT-5," said Altman on "Mornings with Maria" Friday.
"That would really potentially save a lot of lives."
MUSK JABS AT OPENAI, SAYS GROK 4 HEAVY 'SMARTER 2 WEEKS AGO' THAN NEWLY LAUNCHED GPT-5
Altman described the new model as a "significant" step forward for the company and the technology in general, comparing its intelligence to having PhD-level experts at your fingertips.
He also teased OpenAI’s ambitions to turn GPT-5 into a powerful revenue driver, describing plans to sell tools to companies to boost their productivity and efficiency.
"I think a company like OpenAI will be able to build a $100 billion business line, just selling products to other businesses," said Altman.
"The efficiency gains, the value delivered is so worth it that, I think, I think we can now build a huge business here, and we're excited to get going on that."
SCOOP: TRUMP ADMIN, OPENAI PARTNER TO UNLEASH ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ON FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
One of the main use cases Altman described was personalized workplace AI for employees. He said workers may eventually be able to train AI-based assistants to understand their individual workflows and automate repetitive tasks. Altman said such an assistant would give people "a huge additional leverage to work at the higher level."
Industries Altman pointed to as possibly having the most to gain were software engineering, finance, healthcare, and data entry. He cited early feedback from software developers using GPT-5, saying, "You hear people say they’re twice as productive, five times as productive. These [are] huge, huge numbers."
While Altman is optimistic about the long-term job creation potential of AI, he acknowledged there would likely be short-term disruptions in the market. Some industries may reduce headcount as tasks become more automated, he said, but ultimately, he believes new roles will emerge. Specifically, ones that don’t yet exist.
"There will be totally new things that just didn’t—they weren’t even possible to think about before AI," Altman said. "And you’ll see these booms in these brand-new kinds of jobs categories."
ChatGPT-5 is "slowly rolling out to all users on ChatGPT Plus, Pro, and Team plans worldwide on web, mobile, and desktop," according to OpenAI, and "will be available to ChatGPT Enterprise and Edu plans soon."
Altman noted that the company worked to ensure that every version of the model, including premium tiers, remains low-cost relative to its performance capabilities.
