AI News Feed
Market watch
LG UltraFine Evo 32U990A-S Hits Record-Low $1,099 on Amazon, TechRadar ReportsNewegg Labor Day Deal: 32GB Kingston Fury Beast DDR4-3200 Kit Nearly Half Price at $179.99 with CodeGalaxy Z Fold 8 inner screen corners reported with excessive giveHuawei unveils Mate XT 2 tri-fold with privacy-screen edition as Apple prepares folding iPhoneWall Street Analysts Recommend Nvidia, Uber and Marvell for Long-Term GrowthLenovo, AMD and Huawei Put Local Large-Model AI at Center of New Devices
LG UltraFine Evo 32U990A-S Hits Record-Low $1,099 on Amazon, TechRadar ReportsNewegg Labor Day Deal: 32GB Kingston Fury Beast DDR4-3200 Kit Nearly Half Price at $179.99 with CodeGalaxy Z Fold 8 inner screen corners reported with excessive giveHuawei unveils Mate XT 2 tri-fold with privacy-screen edition as Apple prepares folding iPhoneWall Street Analysts Recommend Nvidia, Uber and Marvell for Long-Term GrowthLenovo, AMD and Huawei Put Local Large-Model AI at Center of New Devices
Companies

OpenAI's Altman: AI awaits iPhone moment, needs Apple's focus lesson

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says AI has not yet had its iPhone moment and needs to learn Apple's focus lesson, while predicting a boom in small businesses that avoid AI.

AI News Feed · 2026-08-26 00:42

Altman compared the current AI era to the smartphone days before the iPhone. He noted that tech enthusiasts were using Windows CE, Nokia, and PalmOS devices in the mid-1990s, but it was the iPhone that transformed smartphones from nerdy pocket computers into mass-market devices. “We have all of the technological pieces, but we have not had the iPhone moment of completely changing how someone interfaces with technology,” he said, adding that AI companies, including his own, have not yet found the magic formula to bring the technology into everyday consumer life.

The OpenAI CEO also referenced a famous Steve Jobs quote about Apple’s success being rooted in saying “no” to a thousand good ideas. Altman admitted that he is bad at killing good ideas in order to protect the great ones. This, he suggests, is a lesson he needs to learn from Apple.

Altman predicted that one of the key changes ahead will be “the greatest boom in people starting smaller businesses that we have ever seen.” This will partly be due to what AI makes possible, but he also expects a less obvious outcome: some businesses will succeed “precisely because they have nothing to do with AI; people will want authentic, non-technological experiences.”