Sam Altman says current AI moment is "much more like a new Renaissance" at Abu Dhabi conference

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, speaking Monday at Abu Dhabi’s Adipec oil and gas conference, described the current AI moment in broad historical terms and said energy demand is set to rise substantially, Bloomberg reported. His remarks came as Abu Dhabi signed four OpenAI agreements that day, including a pilot in which OpenAI models help officials check permit and certificate applications against government rules, starting with food imports, and a five-year arrangement to bring the company’s models to UAE government, businesses and schools. Mubadala, the emirate’s sovereign investor, agreed to apply AI to investment analysis, while state oil company ADNOC became the first energy firm to use OpenAI’s Frontier platform. The flurry of deals underscores the UAE’s push to weave AI into public services and commercial operations.