Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, shared an intriguing perspective on the ongoing AI investment buzz during his global tour to connect with policymakers, developers, and AI users. According to Altman, Silicon Valley’s current frenzy around AI investment is “wildly overhyped in the short-term,” but simultaneously, “still underhyped in the long-term.”

This commentary was made during an event in India, the latest stop in Altman’s global itinerary following visits across Europe and Israel. The artificial intelligence leader believes that if AI progresses as anticipated, it’s impossible to quantify just how valuable the technology could become. “No one knows how to think about that, no one knows how to value that, but whatever they’re thinking is probably too low,” Altman posited.

Indeed, venture capitalists and other investors are eagerly seeking opportunities to fuel the AI growth engine. OpenAI, the company Altman heads, recently attracted a $495 million investment via a share sale, elevating its valuation to a substantial $27 to $29 billion.

Moreover, every week brings announcements of new funding rounds for AI startups from both major and emerging VC firms. The likes of Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia have made prominent investments in budding AI enterprises like Pinecone, Character.AI, Harvey, Langchain, and more.

PitchBook data illustrates this trend quite clearly – funding for generative AI startups has surged a whopping 580% in the last three years. In the first quarter of this year alone, these companies attracted about $1.7 billion in investment, a drastic increase from the $250 million generated in the same quarter of 2020.

Given this flurry of activity, Y Combinator co-founder Paul Graham suggests that public stock market investors are being left behind, with limited investment options in this burgeoning field. “Most of the good investments are still private,” he tweeted recently.

Altman also addressed speculation around the development of OpenAI’s next chatbot iteration, GPT-5. Dismissing rumors of its imminent release, he emphasized that a significant amount of time, resources, and innovative thinking are necessary to train these models. “We’re working on the new ideas that we think we need for it, but we’re certainly not close to ready to start,” he confirmed.

So, while the short-term hype around AI investments might seem overly zealous, Altman’s view reminds us of the long-term potential. As AI continues to evolve and disrupt industries, the ultimate value it holds for society may well outstrip even the boldest of current valuations.