Sam Altman Gitex Global 2025 AI prediction outlined a bold future for technology where artificial intelligence moves beyond code to reshape the physical world.
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Sam Altman Gitex Global 2025 AI prediction outlined a bold future for technology where artificial intelligence moves beyond code to reshape the physical world.
Sam Altman Gitex Global 2025 AI prediction outlined a bold future for technology where artificial intelligence moves beyond code to reshape the physical world. Speaking virtually at Gitex Global 2025 in Dubai, Altman said AI systems will soon be capable of building and expanding their own infrastructure — from robots constructing other robots to data centres replicating themselves.
Altman described this coming phase as the beginning of the “gentle singularity”, a point where AI takes on the physical as well as cognitive aspects of creation. “Data centres that can build other data centres aren’t that far off,” he said. “It’s one of the most under-discussed yet inevitable transformations happening right now.”
Joining the conversation, Peng Xiao, Group CEO of Abu Dhabi’s G42, linked Altman’s vision to the UAE’s AI expansion strategy. He described a future where intelligence, like energy, becomes an exportable and tradable commodity. “The UAE is moving from exporting barrels of oil to distributing intelligence tokens,” Xiao said, referencing G42’s “intelligence grid” strategy, which views AI as a universal utility for powering economies and governance.
Altman noted that as AI begins designing both algorithms and physical systems, the boundary between intelligence and manufacturing will blur, ushering in a new industrial age defined by self-replicating and autonomous machines. He urged nations and corporations to focus on making AI abundance-driven rather than scarcity-led, warning that accessibility and education must accompany development to avoid deepening global inequality.
“Abundance is the right mindset — not scarcity,” he said. “The best way to reduce an AI divide is to make it cheap, widely available, and to teach people how to use it.”
The fireside chat between Altman and Xiao was one of Gitex Global 2025’s headline sessions, drawing record attention at the world’s largest technology event with over 6,800 exhibitors and 1,200 investors from 180 countries.
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