OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said recent college graduates within the next decade may find themselves working on missions in space, taking on ‘‘completely new, exciting, super well‑paid’’ jobs that barely existed previously, according to remarks he made in a recent conversation with video journalist Cleo Abram.

What Altman said

Speaking about the rapid pace of technological change and the opportunities it creates for younger workers, Altman painted an optimistic picture for Gen Z graduates, suggesting that within roughly 10 years many will be doing work tied directly to space exploration and commercial space activity. He contrasted that outlook with the prospect of older workers continuing to perform ‘‘boring, old work,’’ and said the coming era will produce entirely new career categories and highly remunerative roles tied to activities beyond Earth’s surface.

Context: why space and why now

Altman’s comments come as multiple trends converge: accelerating commercial space investment, government plans for crewed and uncrewed exploration in the 2030s, and rapid advances in artificial intelligence that proponents say will dramatically lower the barrier to complex problem solving and mission design.

Industry observers note that aerospace‑related occupations have been growing faster than the broader job market and that pay for specialized engineering roles is already comparatively high, a dynamic that could support Altman’s prediction of well‑paid space jobs in the near future.

How AI fits into the vision

Altman emphasized AI’s multiplier effect on human expertise, describing modern AI systems as comparable to ‘‘having a team of PhD‑level experts’’ available to an individual or small team. He argued that those tools can enable faster innovation, let fewer people achieve more complex outcomes, and accelerate the pace at which nascent industries — including space commerce, orbital manufacturing and interplanetary missions — mature.

What new jobs might look like

Though Altman did not list specific job titles, the combination of commercial space expansion and AI assistance suggests several plausible roles that did not exist at scale a decade ago, including:

• Mission‑integration specialists who design and orchestrate automated, AI‑assisted small‑crew or robotic missions.
• Orbital manufacturing engineers and technicians focused on producing high‑value goods in microgravity.
• Lunar and asteroid resource‑logistics planners who coordinate extraction, processing and transport.
• AI‑augmented systems operators and autonomy supervisors who oversee fleets of robotic assets across Earth orbit and cislunar space.

Industry and policy caveats

Analysts caution that while the technological and commercial building blocks for Altman’s forecast are visible, the timing and scale of space‑based employment depend on factors that remain uncertain: regulatory regimes, the pace of investment, launch economics, human‑rating of crewed systems, and the ability of companies to create sustainable revenue models for off‑Earth activities.

Experts also note that many space jobs will require interdisciplinary training — combining aerospace engineering, robotics, AI, materials science, and mission operations — and that workforce development will be a key challenge for both industry and higher education.

Reaction and broader implications

Altman’s comments reflect a broader narrative among Silicon Valley leaders who view AI as a foundational technology that will create new industries and substantially reshape existing ones. For younger workers, the promise is one of rapid upward mobility into novel, high‑paying roles; for policymakers and educators, the implication is a need to adapt curricula and training programs to meet the requirements of a changing labor market.

Looking ahead

Whether the Class of 2035 will literally be leaving Earth for day‑one jobs or instead populating a broad ecosystem of space‑adjacent, AI‑enabled roles remains to be seen. The combination of private capital, government exploration plans and accelerating AI capability makes Altman’s scenario plausible, but realization will depend on economic, technical and regulatory developments over the next decade.