After Musk and Altman, VC Chamath says AI singularity is here, next 18 months will be wild

After Sam Altman and Elon Musk, billionaire investor Chamath Palihapitiya now says AI has entered the singularity, predicting self-improving AI systems could dramatically accelerate progress over the next 18 months.

In Short

• Chamath Palihapitiya says AI has entered a self-improving phase
• The billionaire VC predicts the next 18 months will be wild as AI self-development
• Chamath says AI will become more capable as costs fall towards zero

For years, the idea of an AI 'singularity’, the point where artificial intelligence begins improving itself faster than humans can keep up, has seemed like a distant future. But with AI becoming smarter and more powerful by the day, many tech leaders now believe that the future may already be here. After OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and xAI founder Elon Musk suggested AI has entered the singularity, billionaire venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya has now made a similar prediction.

In a recent post on X, Chamath said AI has entered a new phase where it is beginning to improve itself, creating a feedback loop that could rapidly accelerate progress. He described the current moment as the start of a recursive self-improvement cycle, where humans build an AI system that can develop even better AI. Those newer systems then go on to create even more capable versions, speeding up progress with each generation.

“The AI Singularity. The argument goes like this: 1. Humans build an AGI. 2. The AGI becomes good at AI research. 3. It designs a smarter AI. 4. That smarter AI designs an even smarter AI. 5. The cycle repeats faster and faster,” he wrote.

“Looking at the results and capabilities from the various labs over the past few weeks I would say we are firmly in this loop now.”

If that continues, Chamath believes AI models will become dramatically more capable while also becoming much cheaper to use. He predicted that the marginal cost of running AI models could eventually approach zero, making powerful AI far more accessible across industries.

“The next 18months will be wild. Recursive self improvement will dramatically increase capability very quickly from here,” Chamath added.

Musk and Altman are making similar predictions

Chamath's comments come just days after Elon Musk publicly backed OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's view that AI has already entered the singularity.

Responding to AI researcher and podcaster Dwarkesh Patel on X, Musk wrote, "AI is already superhuman at many things. We are in the singularity."

Musk’s remark echoed Altman's comments during an appearance on the Relentless podcast, where the OpenAI chief said, "We are now, like, in the singularity," while discussing the rapid pace of AI development.

Altman also suggested AI could automate between 30 and 40 percent of tasks currently performed by people and described artificial intelligence as the biggest economic transformation since the Industrial Revolution.

What do they mean?

While all the big tech leaders are using slightly different words, Altman, Musk and Chamath are essentially talking about the same idea. They believe AI is reaching a stage where it is not just helping humans complete tasks but is also helping researchers build better AI systems. As these systems become more capable, they are helping create even smarter versions, speeding up AI development.

Not everyone agrees, though. Many AI researchers say today's AI systems still depend heavily on humans and face challenges such as limited computing power, high energy use and a shortage of quality training data. These factors, they argue, could slow AI's progress.

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