OpenAI's Sandro Gianella on AI's Future, Trust, and Everyday Use

Sandro Gianella, a senior member of OpenAI's International Strategy team, discusses the company's global footprint, including offices in Munich, Berlin, London, New York, San Francisco, and Tokyo, and highlights Germany as a top-five market for weekly ChatGPT users. In an interview with SLEEK, Gianella notes that 30 percent of messages from Germany are work-related, 60 percent of users are aged 18–34, and a 0.5 percent sample included 800,000 prompts about the FIFA World Cup. He emphasizes that AI adoption has moved from theoretical fears to practical tips, and advises users to experiment with the rapidly evolving tools. Gianella recalls his first encounter with OpenAI through the GPT-2 blog post and reflects on the mainstreaming of AI. He addresses concerns about hallucinations, stating they were more of a 2025 problem, and mentions that models have improved in reliability, even solving a previously unsolved mathematical problem. Gianella sees AI as a tool that can bring people together, citing a friend who replaced podcasts with ChatGPT conversations during commutes. He is excited about the democratization of intelligence, enabling more people to create art, start companies, or pursue ideas with fewer barriers. OpenAI collaborates with the Estonian government on responsible AI in schools and works with healthcare specialists.