OpenAI vs. Grok: The Race to Build the Everything App w/ Emad Mostaque, Dave Blundin & AWG | EP #199
Timestamps are as accurate as they can be but may be slightly off. We encourage you to listen to the full context.
Podcast Summary
This episode of Moonshots dives deep into OpenAI's groundbreaking Dev Day announcements, which the hosts describe as "some of the most staggering things in human history." The conversation covers OpenAI's explosive growth from 300 million to 6 billion tokens per minute, alongside revolutionary features like apps integration within ChatGPT and agent builder capabilities. (38:00) The discussion expands to cover the broader AI landscape, including AMD's strategic partnership with OpenAI for 6 gigawatts of GPU deployment, Tesla's FSD 14.1 release, and advances in robotics from both Tesla's Optimus and Google's Gemini models.
• Main themes: The podcast explores the acceleration of AI capabilities, the massive infrastructure investments driving the AI revolution, and the convergence of multiple technologies toward artificial superintelligence.Speakers
Peter Diamandis
Entrepreneur, investor, and futurist who founded the XPRIZE Foundation and Singularity University. He's a leading voice in exponential technologies and moonshot thinking, with extensive experience in space exploration, longevity, and artificial intelligence investments.
Dave Blunden
Technology expert and moonshot mate with deep experience in AI development and coding. He provides technical insights into AI capabilities and has extensive background in software development and technology trends.
Alex (AWG)
Investment strategist and AI analyst who brings sophisticated financial and technical perspectives to emerging technologies. Known for detailed analysis of AI benchmarks, market dynamics, and the convergence of multiple exponential technologies.
Imad Mostak
AI entrepreneur and founder based in London, known for his work in AI model development and his insights into the competitive landscape of artificial intelligence. He brings deep technical knowledge of AI training and deployment.
Key Takeaways
OpenAI's Exponential Growth Signals Market Dominance
OpenAI has achieved staggering scale with 800 million weekly ChatGPT users and processing over 6 billion tokens per minute - a 20x increase from the previous year. (02:57) This growth trajectory suggests OpenAI may be approaching a "winner take most" scenario in the AI space. The company's user base is tracking toward 1 billion users, making it comparable to major social media platforms but with far more transformative economic potential.
The ChatGPT App Ecosystem Creates a Super-App Future
OpenAI's integration with apps like Booking.com, Figma, and Coursera through their SDK transforms ChatGPT into the ultimate interface layer. (09:07) As Imad notes, "the battle here is that human attention is finite" - everyone is competing to be the primary interface that users talk to. This positions OpenAI to potentially become the "everything app" that routes human attention to various services, similar to China's WeChat model.
Agent Builder Democratizes Complex Workflow Creation
OpenAI's agent builder allows users to create multi-step workflows visually without coding, representing a shift from creation to composition of AI processes. (16:28) However, this represents a transitional phase - the future will likely move toward pure voice interaction where users simply describe what they want rather than designing workflows through visual interfaces.
Voice-First AI Control is Becoming Universal
The demonstration of controlling Codex through voice commands for physical device control shows AI moving beyond software into hardware management. (20:35) This capability extends to AV systems, lighting, and potentially any connected device, making AI the universal interface for our physical and digital environments.
AI Token Generation is Approaching Human Speech Volume
OpenAI's 6 billion tokens per minute equals approximately 3 quadrillion tokens annually, while all humans speak about 50 quadrillion tokens per year. (05:55) As Imad calculates, AI systems will likely overtake human speech volume within the next few years, representing a fundamental shift in the information ecosystem where AI-generated content surpasses human-generated content.
Statistics & Facts
- OpenAI processes over 6 billion tokens per minute on their API, representing a 20x increase from 300 million tokens per minute in 2023. (02:57) This exponential growth demonstrates the massive scaling of AI usage across their platform.
- OpenAI now serves 800 million weekly ChatGPT users and has 4 million developers building with their platform, up from 100 million users and 2 million developers in 2023. (02:57) This growth trajectory positions them toward 1 billion users.
- AMD's strategic partnership with OpenAI involves deploying 6 gigawatts of AMD GPUs, with OpenAI receiving 10% ownership stakes for hitting milestones. (46:45) Combined with their 10 gigawatts from NVIDIA, this represents approximately $800 billion in total buildout investment.
