Sam Altman admits OpenAI ‘totally screwed up’ its GPT-5 launch and says the company will spend trillions of dollars on data centers

Sam Altman sits before the Senate Committee under bright lights. (Credit: Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images)

• Altman said GPT-5’s launch was botched after backlash over the model’s colder persona forced OpenAI to reinstate GPT-4o for users. He also predicted OpenAI will need to spend trillions on data centers to scale ChatGPT. In addition, Altman is eyeing brain-computer interfaces, a possible Chrome acquisition, and AI-driven social media, while conceding we may be in an AI bubble.

Sam Altman wants to rewire the internet, build brain-computer interfaces, and maybe even buy Google Chrome. He even sees a future where sustaining ChatGPT’s growth means building infrastructure so massive it rivals the world’s largest utilities.