OpenAI Boss Sam Altman Addresses Backlash After Saying It Was 'Terrible' for People to Have RAM in Their PCs

OpenAI boss Sam Altman addressed the backlash over comments he made in a recent interview, where he said he thought it was “terrible” for people to have RAM in their PCs rather than having it centralized in data centers. Speaking to YouTuber Cheeky Pint, Altman stated: "From a global allocation perspective, actually, it's quite terrible to have everybody have a bunch of the world's limited supply of DRAM sitting in their own computer, and being used 5% of the time. Like, you want maximum utilization in the cloud if you're trying to deal with this very supply constrained environment." The comments were widely ridiculed, leading many to believe Altman was advocating for the removal of personal memory ownership to benefit AI companies. Tech rival Elon Musk joined the backlash, posting a meme stating: "The people deserve to have their RAM too!" In response, Altman expressed frustration on social media, insisting his comments had been taken out of context. He even joked about the situation by renaming his X/Twitter name to 'Ram Altman.' While initially controversial, Altman later clarified that he does not deny believing RAM would be better served in data centers, but rather stressed that there is enough RAM available for everyone: "I want you to have so much RAM... Let's build more." Separately, Altman had also issued statements regarding the U.S. midterm elections, warning that “People should always be in control of the future,” and stating that OpenAI is against the notion that people should be relegated to a role dictated by AI systems.