As Chinese start-up Moonshot AI’s Kimi K3 model gains attention for offering powerful AI capabilities, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says the ChatGPT parent plans to stay ahead by delivering the strongest mix of intelligence, speed and affordability.
OpenAI Wants the Best AI at Every Price Point
Speaking on the Invest Like the Best podcast earlier this week, Altman said OpenAI’s goal is to provide the best possible balance between AI performance and cost across different products and use cases.
“Our goal is to offer at every point along the Pareto-optimal frontier the best option for intelligence and price,” Altman said.
He added that OpenAI aims to compete across the full range of AI offerings, from powerful frontier models to smaller, cheaper systems designed for faster and more affordable use.
Altman argued that OpenAI’s models currently provide a stronger value proposition than Kimi at certain levels of speed and performance.
“You get a better deal today, at least at a particular like latency, using OpenAI’s models than Kimi,” he said.
Sam Altman Says OpenAI is Making AI Models Smaller and Cheaper
Altman said OpenAI uses its own advanced models to create smaller, less expensive systems through a process known as distillation.
“We distill our own models. That’s how we make smaller, cheaper models,” he said, describing the approach as “a very good thing to do.”
The OpenAI chief also acknowledged that open-source AI will remain important as some users want access to model weights and the ability to modify systems for specific needs.
“There will be clearly an important place for open-source models in the world,” Altman said.
OpenAI’s Answer to Rising AI Competition
When asked about U.S. regulation and concerns surrounding AI competition, Altman said he expects powerful, low-cost models to become widely available.
“I have always assumed that there are going to be great, cheap models in the world,” he said.
Rather than focusing on what competitors may do, Altman said OpenAI must continue to improve its own technology and lower costs.
“We better be the greatest and the cheapest,” he said. “I think we can just really win at our own game here.”
Kimi K3 Heats China’s AI Race
Earlier this month, Moonshot AI launched Kimi K3, a 2.8 trillion-parameter open-source model that it says outperforms leading AI systems from OpenAI and Anthropic in certain areas.
The company called it the largest open-source model to date, surpassing DeepSeek’s 1.6-trillion-parameter V4 Pro and Zhipu AI’s 744-billion-parameter GLM 5 series.
While parameters reflect an AI model’s complexity, more does not necessarily mean better performance.
Meanwhile, despite political divisions in Washington over technology restrictions on Beijing, Nvidia has begun shipping H200 AI chips to China following U.S. approval of limited exports.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
Photo Courtesy: Meir Chaimowitz on Shutterstock.com
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