Sam Altman is afraid of OpenAI's GPT-5 creation — "The Manhattan Project feels very fast, like there are no adults in the room"

Sam Altman, chief executive officer of OpenAI Inc., during the Federal Reserve Integrated Review of the Capital Framework for Large Banks Conference in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, July 22, 2025. The conference is meant to provide expert perspectives on the key pillars of the regulatory capital framework. Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

OpenAI's GPT-5 is arguably the most anticipated AI model in the history. As early as last year, CEO Sam Altman has been raving about its sophisticated capabilities, to an extent of promising "with a high degree of scientific certainty" that GPT-5 will be smarter than GPT-4.

For context, the executive is on record indicating that GPT-4 "kind of sucks", further indicating that the AI model is mildly embarrassing at best, presumably comparing it to future iterations of the model like GPT-5.