Tech disrupts jobs, we find better work: Sam Altman at India AI Summit

At the India AI Summit, Sam Altman spoke about AI disrupting jobs, the power of GPUs and the future of human fulfilment. He said technology will reshape work but humans will remain uniquely driven by empathy and purpose, even as machines outperform them in productivity.

Speaking at the India AI Summit, Sam Altman offered a striking reflection on how artificial intelligence will reshape work, ambition and even human purpose.

“It’ll be very hard to outwork a GPU in many ways,” he said, underlining how computing power is rapidly outperforming human effort in specific tasks. At the same time, he added, “It’ll be easy in some other ways,” pointing to uniquely human strengths that machines cannot replicate.

Altman emphasised that humans are “hardwired to care about other people much more than we care about machines.” That instinct — empathy, connection and social responsibility — could become even more valuable in an AI-driven world.

His remarks come at a time when AI adoption is accelerating globally. According to recent industry estimates, generative AI could add trillions of dollars to the global economy over the next decade, while also automating parts of knowledge work once considered immune to disruption.

India, with its vast developer base and growing digital infrastructure, is expected to be a major AI talent hub.

But Altman placed today’s transformation in historical context. “Technology always disrupts jobs. We always find new and better things to do,” he said. Drawing a long arc across centuries, he noted that people 500 years ago would likely find many modern jobs unusual — perhaps even trivial.