OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar predicts President-elect Donald Trump will guide a new generation of AI, as Elon Musk’s competitive push intensifies. With ChatGPT usage soaring and the video tool Sora emerging, OpenAI cautiously advances autonomous capabilities that promise to reshape the global tech landscape.
Trump’s Presidency and the Rise of the AI Era
OpenAI's CFO Sarah Friar speculated that Trump, as president-elect, may be known as the "president of this AI generation" due to the fact that he will assume office just as the necessary infrastructure for creating AGI is being established.
She stated on Tuesday that "he's going to be right there at the beginning of it, maybe even as things like AGI, we get there," referring to autonomous systems that outperform humans in the majority of economically productive work.
Elon Musk is one of Trump's closest aides, but she downplayed his public threats against the ChatGPT creator.
During an interview at the Reuters NEXT conference in New York, Friar addressed questions from Reuters Editor-in-Chief Alessandra Galloni over Musk's threats, saying: "We trust him…as a competitor, (he) will put first the national interest and compete appropriately."
Elon Musk’s Influence in AI Policy and OpenAI’s Competition
Musk, a co-founder of OpenAI, has spoken out against the company's plans to radically alter its corporate structure in order to eliminate the nonprofit board's influence. He has become a trusted advisor to Trump's transition team and now runs OpenAI rival xAI.
Along with businessman and ex-Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, Trump has appointed him to lead a task team to reduce expenditures and regulations.
The company's video generating tool Sora, which was published this week, has experienced enormous demand, according to Friar, who joined OpenAI six months ago as its first chief financial officer and who previously oversaw social networking giant Nextdoor.
Ever since then, Friar has remained mum on when account creation will be back up and running.
OpenAI’s Strategic Approach to Sora and ChatGPT Rollouts
"Some of it is just we need capacity, but a lot of it is also we want to be measured…it's only available to a very small selection of people today, because we want to listen and learn," Friar stated, and added that the business is using a different release method for Sora from ChatGPT.
"There are places where we will go a little slower to make sure that we are constantly moving safety first as well."
She mentioned that in addition to video generation, she expects that more AI agent products will be produced in the coming year. These products are software programs that can autonomously manage day-to-day chores, and foundation models will get stronger reasoning capabilities.
AI Agent Products and OpenAI’s Next Big Moves
"I think we are going to see a lot of motion next year around agents, and I think people are going to be surprised at how fast this technology comes at us," according to her.
Per US News. a new dynamic is being worked out between the rapidly expanding business and Microsoft, its biggest investor and technological partner.
"We think about it … in terms of helping each other grow, but also recognizing that diversification is a good thing as well, in terms of growing the whole industry," said Friar.
She said that OpenAI is still experiencing fast growth despite the controversies surrounding its governance reorganization and the recent departure of executives.
OpenAI’s Rapid Growth Fueled by ChatGPT’s Success
Friar stated that the company is witnessing a "re-acceleration" in the rise of ChatGPT users. The number of active users has jumped to 300 million from 200 million in August of this year, and Friar attributes this to the introduction of new reasoning models like o1.