OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman said he misjudged how quickly artificial intelligence would reshape the economy after GPT-4 launched in 2023. In an interview with podcaster David Senra published Sunday, Altman said he expected software businesses to be "up for grabs right away," but businesses and consumers have largely continued using familiar products, suppliers and workflows. He called the slower adoption cycle positive in some respects and said the industry had been too ambitious about its timelines. The reassessment comes after OpenAI and Anthropic promoted forecasts of leaner companies, smaller workforces and sweeping economic change. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei predicted that AI could eliminate half of all entry-level white-collar work within five years. Those expectations contributed to a first-quarter 2026 selloff in software-as-a-service stocks including Salesforce, Atlassian and Asana, dubbed the "SaaSpocalypse," as investors anticipated competition from AI tools capable of building bespoke operating systems. Altman compared the persistence of established habits with customers continuing to visit Blockbuster after Netflix had launched its DVD-by-mail service, and said he still manually works through his inbox despite OpenAI tools such as Codex. The comments come as OpenAI faces slowing revenue growth, a widening operating loss, competitive pressure from Anthropic and reported changes to its IPO timetable. OpenAI generated $6.7 billion in revenue in the quarter ended in June, up from $5.7 billion in the first quarter, while its operating loss rose to $12.3 billion. Anthropic’s valuation reached $1.12 trillion, above OpenAI’s private-market valuation of $882.62 billion, according to Nasdaq Private Market data. Altman also argued that the industry has not adequately explained AI’s practical benefits or how its risks can be mitigated, saying wider adoption should give individuals more power and freedom. A survey found that about 49% of U.S. adults use AI chatbots, up from 33% two years earlier, indicating meaningful but not ubiquitous adoption.