Benzinga - by Adam Eckert, Benzinga Staff Writer.
Sam Altman is considered one of the leading figures in the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution after OpenAI’s ChatGPT became the first large language model to demonstrate to the world the seemingly limitless opportunities AI can unlock.
As more and more companies go all-in on AI development, people are starting to wonder about the future energy requirements of accelerated computing. Altman might be ahead of the game once again.
What To Know: Altman has an under-the-radar special purpose acquisition company (SPAC): AltC Acquisition Corp (NYSE:ALCC).
The SPAC has already identified advanced nuclear fission startup Oklo as its merger partner. Altman is also the chairman of Oklo’s board.
Oklo is working on developing next-generation fission reactors to produce abundant amounts of affordable, clean energy at global scale.
Altman previously said he believes nuclear energy is necessary to meet booming global energy demand, especially as AI continues to rapidly advance. His vision for a better future involves developing AI and energy in parallel.
"I'm all-in on energy. I think there's urgent demand for tons and tons of cheap, safe, clean energy at scale," Altman told CNBC last year when Oklo announced the deal with AltC. "I don't see a way for us to get there without nuclear … I feel like this is the most likely and the best way to get there."
Altman has put his money where his mouth is. He’s invested in Helion, an energy startup focused on nuclear fusion, which aims to replicate the way the sun generates energy on earth. He’s also been involved with Oklo, which is focused on commercializing nuclear fission using smaller reactors, since its early days.
Altman met the co-founders of Oklo back in 2013 and recruited them to join tech startup accelerator company Y Combinator, where he was president from 2014 to 2019. Altman ended up leading Oklo’s seed round in 2015 before joining the company’s board.
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Oklo hosted its first-ever Investor Day in New York City on Feb. 2 Altman spoke at the end of the presentation.
“In the time that I have gotten to work with the company, which has been quite a while now, the continued progress, the thoughtful decision making, the path towards a solution that works safely, economically, at massive scale, is something I feel very privileged to be a part of,” Altman said.
AltC’s Other Co-Founder Altman co-founded AltC Acquisition Corp with Michael Klein, founder of Churchill Capital Corp, the SPAC best known for taking EV startup Lucid Group Inc (NASDAQ:LCID) public in 2021.
AltC’s ticker symbol appears to incorporate “AL” for Altman and “CC” for Churchill Capital.
In September, AltC filed a definitive proxy statement with the SEC to extend the date by which the company must consummate a merger from October 12, 2023 to July 12, 2024.
Oklo co-founder and CEO Jacob DeWitte spoke with UBS research analyst Jon Windham last week. He noted that the company is currently targeting a merger in the first half of the second quarter, which means an official announcement could come as soon as next month.
Benzinga’s Take: If you believe the rapid development of AI is going to put constraints on the power grid that could potentially be alleviated by splitting atoms and harnessing nuclear energy, then Oklo may be worth looking at. If the long-term prospects aren’t convincing enough, you might take a look at the short-term potential surrounding the SPAC merger.
SPACs surged in popularity in 2020 as retail investors began tracking merger targets and bidding up stocks before deals were announced. However, they quickly fell out of favor after a majority of the companies that went public via SPAC failed to perform well in public markets.
AltC is likely to draw significant interest from retail traders because of its founders. Altman is one of the most recognizable faces in the AI revolution and Klein executed one of the most highly anticipated SPAC mergers in 2021 when Churchill Capital IV (CCIV) merged with Lucid.
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Photo: Shutterstock.
Disclosure: The author of this report owns shares of AltC Acquisition Corp stock.
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