Sam Altman: 'This Will Be One Of The Most Important Contributions, In My Opinion, That AI Makes'

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During a Senate Commerce Committee hearing last week, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) asked OpenAI CEO Sam Altman about the impact of national laboratories in AI development.

Transcript

00:00Senator Duckworth. Thank you Mr. Chairman. I thank you for the panel for all of you

00:05being here today. I want to begin by talking about the importance of

00:09partnerships between the private sector and our national laboratories in

00:13maintaining United States leadership in AI. Illinois is a proud home of two crown

00:18jewels of the national laboratories, Fermilab, America's premier particle

00:23physics and accelerator laboratory, and Argonne National Laboratory, home to the

00:28Aurora supercomputer that will accelerate breakthroughs in AI, cancer research, and

00:32fundamental physics. There is nothing more important than sustaining and

00:37amplifying investments in our nation's incredible network of national labs. Yet

00:42Donald Trump and Elon Musk, with the support of some Republicans in Congress,

00:45are plotting to take a chainsaw to the vital research initiatives being carried

00:49out across our country. This is a self-sabotaging attack, plain and simple, and

00:56if allowed to proceed, Trump and Musk will inflict lasting harm on our innovative

00:59capabilities and capacity that our enemies could only dream of achieving.

01:04Does anyone truly have confidence that had Doge been around decades ago they

01:08would not have cut the project that created the internet as an example of

01:12wasteful, publicly funded research and development? So my question to any member

01:17of the panel is the following. Can you explain the importance of the national lab

01:22system to maintaining our research edge and discuss any partnerships you've

01:26established or are currently pursuing, especially those threatened by massive

01:30cuts to the national labs research? We partner with the national labs so maybe I

01:36could take a first cut of this. Also Senator, I would love to get to visit a

01:41Fermilab someday, that would be like that. That was my next question. That would be a real

01:44life highlight. That'd be very cool. There's many wonderful things that AI is going to do for the world,

01:51but the one that I am personally most excited about is the impact that AI will

01:55have on scientific discovery. I believe that new scientific discovery is the most

02:01important input to the world getting better and people's quality of lives

02:04getting better over time. It is it is hard to overstate where we would be if where we

02:11are because of scientific advancement and where we would be without it. So we're

02:16thrilled to get to partner with the national labs on this. I think science has not

02:20been as efficient as it can be and we're we're also thrilled to hear from scientists

02:24that they're you know multiples more effective than they used to be and I

02:29think that AI tools will mean we can accomplish at some point a decade worth of

02:33scientific progress in a year for the same cost or even less. This this will be one of

02:39the most important contributions in my opinion that AI makes to the world and it's

02:44no longer theoretical like the national labs are a great example. That's the only

02:47partnership where we've given a copy of our model weights to another

02:50organization. It's a very deep and important partnership to us and I expect

02:55that that will really bear fruit. Thank you. Anybody else on the panel? Yeah I

02:59think you highlight a very important issue. This country has 17 national labs

03:06administered by the Department of Energy and about 85 to 90 research

03:11universities and you know together they are the fabric of much of scientific

03:18discovery and have been since the Manhattan Project in World War II. We in

03:25the tech sector we at Microsoft work with most almost all of them and there's a

03:31particular cycle of innovation that the United States has mastered. You have

03:36curiosity driven research in these institutions and then the advances move

03:41out of those institutions into startups and into larger companies and what I

03:47always find interesting is I meet with officials around the world they have

03:51studied this they seek to emulate it and I always worry that in the United

03:57States we run the risk of taking it for granted. We should never take this for

04:03granted. It is the foundation for the country's technological leadership. Very

04:10much so. Dr. Su? I just wanted to add to that we are also very large supporters of

04:15the public-private partnerships with the national labs. I think the national labs

04:18have you know in a way always tried to look ahead of the curve and you know that's a

04:23great place for us to invest. We think they're a key piece we have partnered with

04:27all the national labs as well you know over the last decade and you know that

04:32continues to be a place where I think there can be significant public-private

04:35partnership. Thank you. Mr. Interdireor. I just think it would be really

04:42interesting to come to these AI factories and to walk or travel through these

04:49institutions and identify all the different pieces of the science that

04:55leads back and was both ultimately driven and founded on something that came out of

05:00those institutions because it's amazing actually. Thank you and would any of the

05:04remain three of you would like to come to a lab in Illinois either Fermi or Argonne? I

05:08will give you personal tours. All right all four of you it's done. Thank you Mr. Chairman.

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