Sam Altman never said that, except as a joke. An interviewer asked “what are you excited for in 2025” and he said “AGI”, then said “having a kid” as his real answer.
It’s also worth noting that even when he does talk about AGI, he makes a strong distinction between AGI (human level) and ASI (super human level) intelligence. Many people in these kind of discussions seem to conflate those two as being the same.
He didn’t say it was a joke and has benefited to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars from the prevailing belief that AGI is imminent, so it seems terribly convenient and charitable to interpret it as a joke. Should we have given the same charity to Elizabeth Holmes and Sam Bankman Fried when they reported their technological capabilities and cash balance? “Oh it’s not fraud that they materially benefited from, it’s just a joke.”
It’s also worth noting that even when he does talk about AGI, he makes a strong distinction between AGI (human level) and ASI (super human level) intelligence. Many people in these kind of discussions seem to conflate those two as being the same.