Sam Altman says AI is now mostly smarter than top scientists

Speaking at ADIPEC in Abu Dhabi, the OpenAI CEO said models can handle many parts of white-collar work but humans must stay in control OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says artificial intelligence has crossed a line it hadn’t crossed at the start of the year. In his telling, AI models are now mostly smarter than the top scientists. He made the claim on November 2, 2026, at the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference, better known as ADIPEC. What Altman actually said The core claim is about capability. Altman said AI has become mostly smarter than the most skilled scientists, and that it can now take on many components of white-collar jobs. The qualifier matters. He did not say AI is smarter than every scientist at everything. He said “mostly,” and he said “components” of jobs, not whole jobs. The comparison point is what makes the statement notable. Earlier this year, AI was described as being “mostly not as smart as our smartest scientist.” Altman also put numbers on how much people are actually using these systems. He said average monthly token consumption has climbed to approximately 100,000 tokens per person. Quick primer: a token is a small chunk of text, roughly a wo...