OpenAI chair Bret Taylor talks AI agents, regulation and the tech’s current boom

Bret Taylor, board chairman of OpenAI, joined CNBC’s Squawk on the Street Thursday to discuss his artificial intelligence startup Sierra.

Taylor co-founded Sierra in March of 2023, and it aims to help companies build AI agents that can interface directly with their customers. AI agents vary in their complexity, but they can generally help users answer questions, automate processes and perform specific tasks, according to the company’s website. 

“This is the way your company is going to have its branded customer experience that can actually have a conversation with you, and it’s going to do everything you can do on the website,” Taylor said.

Sierra is already valued at around $4 billion, and Taylor said he is excited to build an “enduring company.”

Taylor said that in the current “AI wave,” he believes more than 10 “meaningful” enterprise software companies, and more than one significant trillion-dollar consumer company, will emerge.

When asked about regulation in the tech space and the potential breakup of Google, Taylor said, “I think a lot of folks in Silicon Valley think we should probably be focused more on empowering little tech than trying to disempower Big Tech.”

Taylor added that he believes the U.S. is the “greatest country for entrepreneurs” because “we have capital. We’re not too highly regulated. And what often happens in these well-intentioned environments is people introduce constraints in the business environment that actually help incumbents, because it creates a lot of complexity for startups.”

Taylor joined OpenAI’s board after the company’s CEO Sam Altman was briefly ousted last fall. He has helped steer the company as other executives like its former CTO Mira Murati have departed, and as the company begins its transition to a for-profit entity.