OpenAI researcher says AI will surpass humans in art, love and nearly all work
On September 23, OpenAI researcher Will DePue laid out his views on the future of AI across multiple posts: AI will not only comprehensively surpass humans in creative fields but will also do better at emotional experience, while the ultimate destination of human work is "craft."
Confirmed
- Responding to doubts that AI lacks emotions and cannot truly love, DePue said that at a functional level AI indeed lacks human-style emotions, but at making others "feel loved," AI will do better than humans—striking the precise balance between caring and honesty, being firm when needed, and ultimately remaining forgiving. He cited human blind evaluation as the basis for judgment.
- From the perspective of human blind judges, he believes it is only a matter of time before AI creates the most gripping, most beautiful literature, poetry, and music, and that human raw creative ability being vastly surpassed is "beyond doubt." However, he noted this does not mean these fields lose their economic or craft value.
- On work, he asserted that almost all future human work will be craft-like in nature: the only things that escape automation are those with intrinsic value from being "made by human hands." He said he is not discouraged by this, noting he long ago stopped watching Stockfish play chess or looking at Midjourney images.
- He added that even if AI can create more engaging experiences in every way, humans will still return to communities built on human art and human relationships.
Why It Matters
- These views come from an OpenAI researcher and represent how some frontier AI practitioners judge "where human value lies": when AI leads across capabilities, human uniqueness will come mainly from being human itself, not from output quality.
- DePue warns people "not to hold on too tightly to your current abilities, because they will soon be gone"—a statement with direct cautionary implications for career planning and education.
2026-09-23 ~ 2026-09-23 · 8 related posts
Primary sources
- OpenAI Researcher: AI Will Surpass Human Capacity in Literature, Poetry and Music — willdepue · 2026-09-23
- [source] Will DePue: AI will surpass humans at making people 'feel loved' — willdepue · 2026-09-23
- OpenAI's Will Depue: AI Will Be Better Than Humans at Making People Feel Loved — willdepue · 2026-09-23
- 'All future human work is artisanal': what survives automation — willdepue · 2026-09-23
- [source] OpenAI Researcher: All Human Work Will Eventually Become 'Artisanal' in the AI Era — willdepue · 2026-09-23
- willdepue: Don't Attach to Your Capabilities — They Will Soon Disappear — willdepue · 2026-09-23
- OpenAI engineer Will DePue: blind expert tests for AI art will saturate — willdepue · 2026-09-23
1 near-duplicate retellings: willdepue