Sadiq S BhatWashington, DC, — Sam Altman is back in Washington. Not with fanfare, but with intent.
As US President Donald Trump prepares to headline a tech summit dubbed "Winning the AI Race," and Elon Musk distances himself from the Republican establishment, Altman, CEO of OpenAI, is moving swiftly.
He'll speak on Tuesday alongside Michelle Bowman, the Federal Reserve's new vice chair for supervision, at a conference on financial regulation.
It's not the typical venue for a tech founder. But Altman appears more interested in shaping how artificial intelligence is framed in economic terms, a reflection of how our present is already entangled with its future.
That present, according to OpenAI's own figures, is already vast. More than 2.5 billion prompts are entered into ChatGPT daily, with over 330 million coming from users in the United States alone.
Already reaching everyday users, AI is having an impact far beyond coders and researchers.
"The real power of AI is when people who've never touched this kind of technology start using it in daily life," Ryan Chen, a tech expert based in San Francisco, told TRT World.
"Teachers, small business owners, freelancers — those are the users we think about most."
Different kind of tech politics
Altman's approach is landing differently in the US capital, which has grown weary of tech titans dodging accountability.
"There's been a lot of hype, and a lot of fear," Chen, who has been associated with OpenAI in the past, said.
"Sam is not pretending this technology can be stopped. He’s focused on what to do about it."
That includes economic impact.
In a previous op-ed for the Washington Post, Altman laid it out, "If we want a more democratic world, history tells us our only choice is to develop an AI strategy that will help create it, and that the nations and technologists who have a lead have a responsibility to make that choice — now.”
The phrase OpenAI is leaning on this week is "democratising AI", not just as a moral stance, but as an economic one. And they're eager to contrast that with the consolidation of power they believe AI could otherwise bring about.
"It’s about distribution. Who gets to benefit, and when," Chen added.
Musk's child-friendly Grok
Meanwhile, Elon Musk is on a very different trajectory. Earlier this month, he announced the launch of the "America Party", a new political movement aimed at replacing both Democrats and Republicans.
His timing coincided with Trump's signing of a sweeping tax-and-spending bill Musk has aggressively opposed.
The two men, once seen as ideological allies, have grown visibly distant.
Meanwhile worried about what his chatbot might be feeding young minds, Musk says a child-friendly version of his chatbot Grok is on the way.
Over the weekend, he posted on X that his company xAI is working on “Baby Grok” — a separate app meant for kid-safe content.
He didn’t offer any more details.
Battle for AI narrative
Back in Washington as Trump leans into the language of a tech arms race, and AI giants tighten their grip, some worry the tools of tomorrow may end up in too few hands
"There's a choice between concentrating this power or spreading it," said Chen.
That message will continue to surface this week as Altman participates in meetings with lawmakers and agency officials while the White House prepares to release its long-awaited 20-page AI Action Plan.
Experts say the plan will take a light regulatory touch and lean toward market-driven growth.
Artificial intelligence research is thick with bold forecasts. The IMF warns nearly 40% of global jobs will be affected. Goldman Sachs pegs the coming boost to global GDP at $7 trillion over the next decade. McKinsey ups the ante, projecting annual growth between $17.1 and $25.6 trillion.
The stakes are enormous. With Altman in town and Trump set to appear at a tech summit, generative AI is no longer a side act — it's moving to the centre of power.
