Sam Altman said everyone at Sun Valley wants to know how to make AI cheaper

At the prestigious Sun Valley Conference, a significant focus emerged around the costs associated with artificial intelligence. OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, highlighted this trend during an interview with CNBC, stating that discussions surrounding AI expenditure were more prominent than ever before at the annual gathering of tech luminaries. Altman emphasized that the emphasis on AI spending reflects a broader shift among businesses toward maximizing the efficiency and return on their investments in AI technology. With the unveiling of OpenAI's new GPT-5.6 model family, Altman noted that the development process prioritized cost-effectiveness and operational speed. Among the new releases is the Sol model, which he claims is remarkably efficient, boasting a 54% increase in token efficiency for agentic coding tasks, although he did not provide a baseline for this comparison. The conference, which commenced on a Tuesday, brought together some of the most influential figures in tech, including Netflix's co-CEO Ted Sarandos, Uber's CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook, and Amazon's CEO Andy Jassy. The dialogue at Sun Valley reflected a growing concern among enterprises regarding the financial implications of AI technologies. Executives like Coinbase's Brian Armstrong have been vocal about strategies to enhance value from AI investments. Armstrong mentioned his exploration of more affordable Chinese AI models as a way to optimize resource usage within his team. Meanwhile, Vercel's CEO, Guillermo Rauch, urged companies to diversify their partnerships with various AI labs to ensure they leverage the best models available, including those from OpenAI, Anthropic, and emerging Chinese competitors. This collaborative approach is seen as essential for achieving superior value in AI deployments.