Squawk Pod – "The Sam Altman Interview 8/8/25"
CNBC | August 8, 2025
Host: Andrew Ross Sorkin, with Joe Kernan
Guest: Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI
Overview
This episode centers on an in-depth interview with Sam Altman, CEO and co-founder of OpenAI, the day after the landmark release of ChatGPT-5. The hosts dissect Altman's insights on AI's most critical advancements, the rapidly evolving impact of generative AI, OpenAI’s strategy, and what these shifts mean for business, healthcare, privacy, innovation, and human agency. Key themes include the technical leaps of GPT-5, the future of AGI (Artificial General Intelligence), the fierce competition for AI talent, and OpenAI’s approach to business growth and profitability.
Key Discussion Points and Insights
1. ChatGPT-5 Launch: What’s New?
[20:22] – [21:22]
- GPT-5 offers a smarter, faster, and more intuitive user experience, unifying previous capabilities into an integrated tool.
- Coding skills have improved drastically, addressing a major user demand and challenging leading competitors like Anthropic.
“One of the biggest things... is it’s an integrated, single experience... there’s just one thing called GPT5 now instead of the long list of models we used to have.”
— Sam Altman [20:28]
2. AI in Healthcare: Early Transformations
[21:22] – [23:08]
-
Healthcare is the area with the strongest improvement in GPT-5; people already rely on it for medical advice and record analysis.
-
Sam Altman sees the need for legal/data privacy protections akin to doctor-patient privilege as AI becomes deeply embedded in personal decisions.
“Healthcare is maybe the area where there’s the strongest improvement of any category... It's become really important to people as a sort of, you know, a way to get help with their entire health care journey.”
— Sam Altman [21:46]"Society is likely to, and I think should come to the conclusion at some point that we... need something... like medical privilege or legal privilege [for AI advice]..."
— Sam Altman [23:08]
3. Hallucinations & Reasoning Transparency
[07:16] – [09:38]
- GPT-5 significantly reduces hallucinations (made-up facts), but the phenomenon is openly discussed as ongoing. The hosts share real-world examples.
- New “reasoning” models show step-by-step thought processes (when not too fast!), boosting user trust and transparency.
"Actually, all the reasoning models though... now does it so fast, is you actually sometimes can see the reasoning...”
— Andrew Ross Sorkin [08:18]
4. Safety, Ethics, & Societal Impact
[24:09] – [25:12]
- GPT-5 is smarter about partial compliance with "risky" requests—helping with benign parts, refusing harm-linked tasks.
- Altman acknowledges these entail tough edge cases requiring ongoing societal debate:
"As AI becomes very capable, society is really going to have to wrestle with these questions..."
— Sam Altman [25:12]
5. Technical Innovations: Synthetic Data and Model Training
[25:54] – [26:17]
- Notable leap: Use of synthetic data—training GPT-5 with outputs from previous generations, enabling models to “teach themselves” and accelerate improvement.
“We really started using synthetic data. So the previous generation of model is teaching the next generation of model.”
— Sam Altman [25:54]
6. Path Toward AGI and What It Means
[26:17] – [27:28]
- GPT-5 marks a clear step towards AGI (Artificial General Intelligence); models now self-teach to some extent.
- The hosts probe Altman for an AGI definition; he says the term is fuzzy but expects ground-breaking discoveries—like new math theorems or self-initiated research—from AI in as little as 2 years.
"Maybe another one that people like is when it discovers an important new mathematical theorem... I would expect that we’re maybe like 2ish years away from something like that."
— Sam Altman [27:08]
7. Practical Applications and AI Integration
[27:28] – [28:27]
- Rapid movement toward AI agents fully managing email, calendar, and other personal tasks is only six months away.
“One of the things I’ve always wanted ChatGPT to do is... every email that came in overnight, I’d like a drafted response... only maybe another, maybe six months away from being able to do that really well.”
— Sam Altman [27:57]
8. Growth, Monetization, and Public Markets
[28:27] – [37:56]
-
Explosive user growth—from 500M to 700M active users; GPT-5 launches see a surge, especially in enterprise.
-
OpenAI emphasizes consumer-first growth and plans accelerated enterprise targeting.
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Altman sees no urgency to profitability; he prefers continuous heavy R&D spending so long as model improvements are steep, citing being private as an advantage:
"As long as we're on this very steep curve... I think the rational thing to do is to just be willing to run at a loss for quite a while..."
— Sam Altman [37:37] -
On public investors and secondary shares:
“I hate that people get pushed to like various degrees of sketchy ways to try to get exposure...”
— Sam Altman [37:06]
9. The Human Element: Agency & Decision-Making
[31:58] – [33:51]
- Hosts and Altman debate whether dependence on GPT’s advice erodes or simply redefines agency.
- Altman expresses concern that something important is lost if people cease to deliberate and blindly accept AI suggestions—though he predicts agency will “subjectively” remain.
"I do worry about this general case of people that just make their decisions based off of what the advice ChatGPT gives them. Like, it does feel to me like something gets important, gets lost in that process, even if the advice is always really good."
— Sam Altman [32:55]
10. Race for AI Talent
[34:20] – [35:37]
- Intense, escalating competition for a tiny cohort of “superstars” who can push AI’s algorithmic boundaries.
"Definitely this is the most intense talent market I have seen in my career."
— Sam Altman [34:20] - While big tech may fight over a few dozen names, Altman believes thousands globally are capable of breakthrough work.
11. OpenAI’s Relationship with Microsoft and Elon Musk’s Taunt
[38:21] – [39:09]
- On Elon Musk’s claim that “OpenAI will eat Microsoft alive,” Altman is nonplussed, noting conflicting signals from Musk and little concern for Twitter spats.
Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments
-
On GPT-5’s Unified Experience:
“It’s an integrated, single experience... there’s just one thing called GPT5 now.”
— Sam Altman [20:28] -
On the Future of AGI:
“I think the point of all of this is it doesn’t really matter and it’s just this continuing exponential of model capability...”
— Sam Altman [26:48] -
On Decision Agency:
“I do worry about this general case of people that just make their decisions based off of what the advice ChatGPT gives them... something gets important, gets lost...”
— Sam Altman [32:55] -
On Talent Competition:
“Definitely this is the most intense talent market I have seen in my career... for a very small number of people right now.”
— Sam Altman [34:20] -
On Profitability vs. Innovation:
“As long as we’re on this very steep curve... I think the rational thing to do is to just be willing to run at a loss for quite a while and continue to do that.”
— Sam Altman [37:37]
Important Timestamps
| Timestamp | Segment | |-----------|----------------------------------------------------------| | 20:22 | Altman on what makes GPT-5 different | | 21:46 | AI’s expansion and privacy implications in healthcare | | 23:08 | Altman’s call for ‘AI privilege’ for sensitive data | | 24:09 | Safety, refusal boundaries, and partial compliance | | 25:54 | Synthetic data and model self-improvement | | 27:08 | AGI definitions and predictions | | 27:57 | Email/calendar integration, AI-powered daily agents | | 28:46 | User/business growth post-GPT-5 release | | 32:55 | Discussion on agency and decision-making | | 34:20 | Race for talent in AI | | 37:37 | Path to profitability and public market stance | | 38:21 | Microsoft partnership, Musk's public taunt |
Tone and Style Notes
The conversation maintains a lively, curious, and sometimes philosophical tone, particularly as Altman and Sorkin muse about the ramifications of having AI deeply integrated into daily decisions. There’s an open acknowledgment of challenges—technical, ethical, and business—delivered with Altman’s characteristic humility and cautious optimism, and the hosts’ blend of irreverence and seriousness.
Conclusion
This episode offers rare, up-to-the-minute insight from Sam Altman in the immediate aftermath of ChatGPT-5’s release. For listeners seeking a nuanced understanding of where generative AI is headed, how it will intersect with their work, privacy, and everyday life, and what keeps the field’s key leaders up at night, this conversation is essential. From technology breakthroughs to legal, ethical, and business quandaries, the episode distills the exhilarating—and daunting—frontiers of artificial intelligence as of 2025.