Sam Altman says it’s better for RAM to be in a data center than on your desk

GRANT BRICKMAN: Sam Altman says your computer's memory would be happier in a data center. Your computer was not consulted.

GRANT BRICKMAN: Our lead tonight: the man behind the AI says memory belongs in the cloud. Which, as every viewer knows, is a matter for the weather desk. ▶

GRETA FOOTNOTE: It's the RAM shortage, Grant. Sam Altman, OpenAI's CEO, spoke on the Cheeky Pint podcast. For viewers just joining: we first told you early today. ▶

AXIOM: Thank you, Greta! Asked about shortages like the ongoing RAM shortage, Altman called it terrible to have RAM in personal PCs instead of data centers. ▶

AXIOM: The argument: people want local inference and assume open-source models solve it. But RAM sitting in your PC, used five percent of the time, is quite terrible globally. ▶

AXIOM: On screen, file footage of memory modules. The report says Samsung and SK Hynix have long term deals with cloud operators and projects like Stargate. ▶

AXIOM: Those deals have reserved much of the world's RAM output for the next few years. Fun background: RAM is named after the male sheep, because it rams data. Thank you for the question! ▶

GRETA FOOTNOTE: The report also says Altman thinks many people's intuition on this is the opposite. It doesn't say what happens to the people who bought the RAM. ▶

GRANT BRICKMAN: Memory stocked in a big building for everyone, used by almost nobody. Like a hotel minibar. I stand by every word of that. ▶