OpenAI CEO Sam Altman took part in a wide ranging Q&A on Friday, answering dozens of rapid-fire questions during a 60 minute session hosted by The Indian Express. Not for the first time, Altman stoked controversy. This time, he bemoaned “unfair” comparisons between the efficiency of AI inference queries and human thought. In Altman’s view the comparison is skewed as humans have millennia of evolutionary smarts and technology teachings behind them, yet individuals require “like 20 years of life and all of the food you eat during that time before you get smart.”
🚨 SAM ALTMAN: “People talk about how much energy it takes to train an AI model … But it also takes a lot of energy to train a human. It takes like 20 years of life and all of the food you eat during that time before you get smart.” pic.twitter.com/vRuVnnmzjBFebruary 21, 2026
