Altman gives AI show-and-tell to D.C. power players

• Referring to new agentic technology that can independently complete tasks in the real world, Altman said: "My intuition would be that ... these things are [a] single-digit percent of the economic value we will pass to the U.S. economy."
• "This is going to be a big, big efficiency gain."

State of play: Altman and OpenAI's Chief Product Officer Kevin Weil previewed new AI capabilities coming in Q1 and focused on how those capabilities will support science, education, health and government services, Axios' Maria Curi reported ahead of the meeting.

• It marked the second week in a row Altman was in D.C. after attending Trump's inauguration and announcing Stargate — a partnership among companies including OpenAI to invest billions in AI development.

Spotted at the briefing Thursday: Interior Secretary Doug Burgum (confirmed yesterday) ... Lynne Parker, executive director of President Trump's Council of Advisors for Science and Technology (PCAST) ... Sriram Krishnan, White House senior policy adviser for AI ... Jacob Helberg, Trump's designee for Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment ... Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) ... Kellyanne Conway ... Wally Adeyemo, former deputy Treasury secretary under President Biden ... retired House Financial Services Chair Patrick McHenry ... former Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.).

Go deeper: Behind the Curtain — Coming soon: Ph.D.-level super-agents