Altman On Dyson Spheres, Colonizing the ‘Light Cone’

By hiring Instacart CEO Fidji Simo to manage OpenAI’s business, CEO Sam Altman can focus on his primary ambition: attaining artificial superintelligence. The term refers to technology that would help humans solve fundamental scientific challenges around energy and physics to become multiplanetary, colonizing other planets and eventually other star systems, according to a person who has heard him speak about it.

At OpenAI, Altman has even discussed the grandiose idea of colonizing the light cone, an astronomical term referring to the unfathomably large region of spacetime that light could travel to from humanity’s current position, this person said.

The AI and energy-related breakthroughs needed to hit these goals help explain why Altman has privately expressed his lack of interest in running the entire company. That suggests Simo could ascend to the CEO role someday and help take the company public. (Read our story about the management gaps Simo will fill for Altman.)