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Sam Altman Says Humanity Is 'Now in the Singularity' in New Interview

July 25, 2026 at 15:39 EDT

Foundation Models
Policy & Regulation

OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman has publicly declared that humanity is "now in the singularity," restating in a recent interview the thesis he first laid out in a 2025 essay describing an already-underway, if gradual, transition toward artificial superintelligence.

July 2026 · OpenAI

"We are in the singularity"

Sam Altman declares the transition toward artificial superintelligence has already begun — a "gentle," incremental takeoff arriving bit by bit, rather than an abrupt Kurzweil-style explosion.

2–3×

Estimated productivity boost for scientists using AI tools

$25B+

OpenAI annualized revenue by early 2026

~17%

Positive public sentiment toward AI, per Pew polling

Scientist productivity, drawn to scale

1× baseline human worker vs. AI-augmented output

1×

Baseline

2–3×

AI-augmented

A self-reinforcing loop

Better AI capability

→

More investment & infrastructure

→

Faster progress, repeat

Altman's forecast: systems producing "novel insights" as early as 2026, real-world robots around 2027, dramatic change through the 2030s.

Supporters

AI has already transformed software development and lifted knowledge-work productivity — an honest description of incremental progress.

Critics

Called "hype" or "messianic": no walking robots at scale, no cured diseases — optimistic timelines outrun visible reality.

A rhetorical stance, not a technical one. The declaration comes with no benchmark, price, or release date — its weight lies in how the head of the most prominent AI company frames the present moment as the start of a superintelligence transition.

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