--- title: Sam Altman says your DRAM is being wasted on you | daily.dev description: Sam Altman said local DRAM sitting in personal computers is a poor allocation of the world's limited memory supply because it's used only about 5% of the time.... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/sam-altman-says-your-dram-is-being-wasted-on-you-gjmtxy96f twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Sam Altman says your DRAM is being wasted on you | daily.dev og:description: Sam Altman said local DRAM sitting in personal computers is a poor allocation of the world's limited memory supply because it's used only about 5% of the time.... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/sam-altman-says-your-dram-is-being-wasted-on-you-gjmtxy96f og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/gJMtXY96f.png og:image:alt: Sam Altman says your DRAM is being wasted on you og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Sam Altman says your DRAM is being wasted on you **[Trends](https://daily.dev/sources/trends)** · 2 min read · 1 upvotes · 1 comments ## Summary Sam Altman said local DRAM sitting in personal computers is a poor allocation of the world's limited memory supply because it's used only about 5% of the time. He made the comment while dismissing the idea that open source models solve local inference needs. Critics like @Hesamation pushed back, noting it's odd for someone buying hardware to lecture individuals about their own hardware use. @rohanpaul_ai agreed with the efficiency math but pointed out local models are the only part of the stack nobody can deprecate on you. ## Content Sam Altman has told an interviewer that local inference is "quite terrible" for the world. His reasoning: "from a global allocation perspective," it's a waste to have "a bunch of the world's limited supply of DRAM sitting in their own computer. And, being used 5% of the time." He was responding to people who assume open source models mean "we're not going to need all the stuff in the data center." The reaction was fast, and mostly unkind. ## The jab that stuck The line getting passed around, via @crazyMLguy, is the community's summary of the whole thing: "Guy selling a product: Here's why owning your own product instead of renting it from me is a terrible idea." It's cheap, and it's also hard to argue with. ## The consumer-prices angle @Hesamation called it "such a bizarre thing to say in the open." The sharper point is about who actually gets squeezed. Why is someone buying hardware for their own use framed as competing with data centers spending billions at scale? "If anyone should be complaining about how the world's memory is allocated, it must be the average consumers facing the skyrocketing hardware prices." His verdict: "it just doesn't make any sense." That reversal is the best one in the thread. Altman's framing treats a gamer's spare RAM as the scarce-resource villain. Hardware prices say the pressure comes from the other direction. ## Local is a necessity, not a hobby @kimmonismus took it personally: Altman "doesnt understand why local AI is a necessity for us. Such a shame!" He also suggested GPT OSS only exists because the community pushed OpenAI into releasing it. ## The one concession Not everyone is dunking. @rohanpaul_ai grants that on the numbers Altman has a point: "per token, the datacenter wins easily," and a local model at batch size 1 is "wasteful by any utilization metric." Then comes the turn. Local is also "the only part of the stack nobody can deprecate on you." That is the real fight. Altman is arguing utilization, and his critics are arguing control. Both are right about their own metric. Only one of them sells the datacenter. The framing from @crazyMLguy puts the open question plainly: should AI compute live in the cloud or on personal devices? Altman has picked a side, and the crowd has noticed which side pays him. ## Questions this post answers ### What did Sam Altman say about local inference and DRAM usage Sam Altman argued that having everyone keep a portion of the world's limited DRAM supply in their own computers, used only about 5% of the time, is a poor global allocation of resources. He made the remark responding to the idea that open source models eliminate the need for data center inference, defending data centers as more efficient. _Anyone weighing local models against hosted APIs can follow this debate as it unfolds on daily.dev._ ### What is the counterargument to Sam Altman's claim that local inference wastes DRAM Critics note that local inference isn't primarily about per-token efficiency but about control, privacy, and avoiding dependence on an API that could be retired or changed. One commenter, @rohanpaul_ai, agreed datacenters win on raw utilization per token but added that local inference is 'the only part of the stack nobody can deprecate on you.' _Developers choosing between local and cloud inference can track this tradeoff discussion on daily.dev._ ## Community take How the wider developer community reacted, aggregated from 5 discussions and 296 comments across x (as of 2026-10-30). **TL;DR:** The reaction is dominated by pushback and sarcasm aimed at Altman, with many framing the comment as self-serving since he sells cloud AI, while a smaller group concedes his efficiency point is technically correct but still irrelevant to why people run local models. **Sentiment:** 8% positive · 27% mixed · 65% skeptical **The case for** - Several concede data centers genuinely beat local hardware on raw per-token efficiency and utilization math. - Some suggest a hybrid approach—local for private/everyday work, cloud for heavy jobs—works well in practice. **The pushback** - Many see the remark as self-serving since it comes from someone whose business depends on cloud/data-center usage. - Commenters argue local inference is chosen for privacy, sovereignty, offline reliability, and avoiding rate limits or provider control, not for maximizing hardware utilization. - Some distrust Altman generally and read the comment as part of a broader push toward centralizing control over compute. - A few note cloud providers can cut off access, change models unexpectedly, or expose data to breaches, which local setups avoid. **By community** - x (skeptical): Replies are overwhelmingly critical or dismissive of the claim, framing it as a vendor protecting his own business, though a notable minority concede the efficiency point while still valuing local control. **Hottest debate:** Whether raw hardware utilization efficiency should matter at all when weighed against privacy, control, and independence from providers. **Open questions** - If memory truly is scarce, would dedicating more production to consumer hardware meaningfully ease prices? - How much does the efficiency argument hold once agent swarms or batched workloads are factored in rather than single-user inference? **Highlights** > @kimmonismus He’s right on efficiency. But GPU utilization was never the point. Sovereignty is. > — [maviasx on x · 1 points](https://x.com/maviasx/status/2115925630545977688) > @kimmonismus He isn't wrong, though; he is talking about efficiency of resources. I have high-end GPUs at home; do I use them 24/7? No. Do 80% of people who have them use them 24/7? No... If the DRAM were in the cloud, it would be used 24/7; therefore, there would be more access for all at > — [JDofLondon on x](https://x.com/JDofLondon/status/2115927277150109983) > @kimmonismus Both can be true. For raw efficiency the cloud wins, but people don't pick local for efficiency. They pick it for privacy, no rate limits and nothing breaking when a provider swaps the model. That trade is worth the extra memory to a lot of people. > — [sssolves on x](https://x.com/sssolves/status/2115928602084823419) > @kimmonismus F#$K YOU, Sam! My cards sit idle 95% of the time? Good. Idle cards never hacked Hugging Face or posted 53 user images online. Your agents did both, and you can’t even say whose images they were. That’s why people want local inference. So you can’t steal their IP and then lose it. > — [CaseSignalX on x · 2 points](https://x.com/CaseSignalX/status/2115937701757108732) > @kimmonismus Man who sells cloud AI subscriptions explains why running AI without paying him is a waste of resources. > — [CtrlAltDwayne on x · 3 points, 1 comments](https://x.com/CtrlAltDwayne/status/2115962069275267337) **Source threads** - [x](https://x.com/Hesamation/status/2115846207167713433) · 1 points · 155 comments - [x](https://x.com/Hesamation/status/2115846041937285236) · 1 points · 0 comments - [x](https://x.com/rohanpaul_ai/status/2115947866304937997) · 0 points · 18 comments - [x](https://x.com/kimmonismus/status/2115914568434405453) · 649 points · 120 comments - [x](https://x.com/crazyMLguy/status/2116025145819345246) · 1 points · 3 comments ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@rankicker795** · 0 upvotes > I miss the days when I bought something, I owned it. ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Altman: You think AI is inefficient? Try raising a human](https://daily.dev/posts/altman-you-think-ai-is-inefficient-try-raising-a-human-nzvagdxip) · The Register · 2 upvotes · 0 comments - [No, local models will not win](https://daily.dev/posts/no-local-models-will-not-win-gcnasfden) · Lobsters · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Sam Altman says OpenAI will point its robots at building data centres](https://daily.dev/posts/sam-altman-says-openai-will-point-its-robots-at-building-data-centres-nvw4dxefn) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [I think we're cooked...](https://daily.dev/posts/i-think-we-re-cooked--c98iytsiv) · DEV · 47 upvotes · 16 comments --- Tags: [#openai](https://daily.dev/tags/openai), [#ai-infrastructure](https://daily.dev/tags/ai-infrastructure) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/sam-altman-says-your-dram-is-being-wasted-on-you-gjmtxy96f) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Sam Altman says your DRAM is being wasted on you","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/sam-altman-says-your-dram-is-being-wasted-on-you-gjmtxy96f","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/sam-altman-says-your-dram-is-being-wasted-on-you-gjmtxy96f"},"datePublished":"2026-10-30T01:51:52.013Z","dateModified":"2026-10-30T07:29:37.608Z","description":"Sam Altman said local DRAM sitting in personal computers is a poor allocation of the world's limited memory supply because it's used only about 5% of the time....","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Trends","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Trends","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--ZfSp3asX--/f_auto,q_auto/v1780996004/logos/trends?_a=BAMAMiWQ0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/trends"},"commentCount":1,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/sam-altman-says-your-dram-is-being-wasted-on-you-gjmtxy96f","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":1}],"keywords":"openai,ai-infrastructure","timeRequired":"PT2M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Trends","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/trends"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Sam Altman says your DRAM is being wasted on you"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/sam-altman-says-your-dram-is-being-wasted-on-you-gjmtxy96f","comment":[{"@type":"Comment","text":"I miss the days when I bought something, I owned it.","datePublished":"2026-10-30T13:54:20.664Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/gJMtXY96f#c-aSSGd7Gag","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Roger Allen","url":"https://daily.dev/rankicker795","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--I3bPksps--/f_auto/v1784144308/avatars/avatar_mlr6dz7rZjele5XO6IOL2?_a=BAMAMicg0"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/sam-altman-says-your-dram-is-being-wasted-on-you-gjmtxy96f#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What did Sam Altman say about local inference and DRAM usage","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Sam Altman argued that having everyone keep a portion of the world's limited DRAM supply in their own computers, used only about 5% of the time, is a poor global allocation of resources. 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