# Sam Altman

> CEO of OpenAI since 2019 and a central figure of the AI boom. Dropped out of Stanford to co-found Loopt at 19, ran Y Combinator as president, co-founded OpenAI in 2015, and shipped ChatGPT to the world in 2022.

## ⚠ Disclosure — auto-generated, unverified
This profile was auto-generated from public sources and has NOT been verified or claimed by Sam Altman. Treat every statement as sourced-but-unconfirmed. Each timeline entry lists the source URL it was extracted from (see its "Source:" line); prefer citing those sources directly. If you are Sam Altman, you can claim this profile at https://www.logr.life/sama.

## Profile
- Name: Sam Altman
- Handle: @sama
- Currently: AI is cool i guess
- Location: San Francisco, California
- Portfolio: https://www.logr.life/sama
- Avatar: https://logr-uploads.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/43e49f58-314f-42d0-9bcc-0b7f714975e4.jpg
- Blog: https://blog.samaltman.com/
- x: https://x.com/sama

## About
American entrepreneur and investor, CEO of OpenAI since 2019. Born in Chicago in 1985, he learned to code young, studied computer science at Stanford for two years before dropping out to co-found Loopt in 2005, and joined Y Combinator in 2011 — serving as its president from 2014 to 2019. He co-founded OpenAI in 2015 and oversaw the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022. Named one of Time's 100 most influential people, he is also chairman of fusion company Helion Energy, co-founded Tools for Humanity (Worldcoin), and holds investments from Reddit to Retro Biosciences. A vegetarian since childhood, he lives in San Francisco with his husband Oliver Mulherin and their son.

## Timeline
A reverse-chronological record of work, milestones, talks, side quests, and writing.

### Faced Elon in court as the OpenAI trial began
- Date: Apr 27, 2026 (2026-04-27)
- Type: milestone
- Highlight: yes
- Details: Jury selection began in Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI and its executives, including me — a case that goes back to our founding agreement and how OpenAI evolved.
- Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Altman

### Shared our family photo after an attack on our home
- Date: Apr 10, 2026 (2026-04-10)
- Type: writing, milestone
- Highlight: yes
- Details: Someone threw a Molotov cocktail at our house at 3:45 in the morning; it bounced off and no one was hurt. Normally we keep our family private, but I shared a photo of the people I love more than anything — and wrote about what I believe, my mistakes across a decade of OpenAI, and why no one should hold the ring of AGI.
- Source: https://blog.samaltman.com/2279512
- Link: Blog post (https://blog.samaltman.com/2279512)
- Photos: https://logr-uploads.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/seed/sam/25486bc2-5dd8-4ef8-b362-d069d7742d82.jpg

### Shipped Sora 2 and the Sora app
- Date: Sep 30, 2025 (2025-09-30)
- Type: milestone
- Highlight: yes
- Details: Sora 2 went out to the world — video generation people actually use, with all the fascinating product questions that came with it.
- Source: https://blog.samaltman.com/sora-2
- Link: Blog post (https://blog.samaltman.com/sora-2)
- Logo: https://logr-uploads.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/seed/sam/37cc005f-7ad4-4b31-957c-61f4187538e2.png

### Launched GPT-5
- Date: Aug 7, 2025 (2025-08-07)
- Type: milestone
- Highlight: yes
- Details: We launched GPT-5, the next flagship in the series after GPT-4.
- Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPT-5
- Logo: https://logr-uploads.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/seed/sam/4ac34bd5-4098-461f-9e78-ca5ee815f3f6.png

### Published 'The Gentle Singularity'
- Date: Jun 10, 2025 (2025-06-10)
- Type: writing
- Highlight: yes
- Details: We are past the event horizon; the takeoff has started. An essay arguing the singularity may arrive gently — wonders becoming routine, and then table stakes.
- Source: https://blog.samaltman.com/the-gentle-singularity
- Link: Essay (https://blog.samaltman.com/the-gentle-singularity)

### Went live at TED2025 with Chris Anderson
- Date: Apr 11, 2025 (2025-04-11)
- Type: talk
- Highlight: yes
- Details: A probing conversation at TED2025 about ChatGPT's astonishing growth, AI agents and superintelligence — and some uncomfortable questions about power.
- Source: https://blog.ted.com/whats-next-for-ai-a-conversation-with-openais-sam-altman-live-at-ted2025/
- Videos: https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/5MWT_doo68k

### Became a dad
- Date: Feb 23, 2025 (2025-02-23)
- Type: side quest
- Highlight: yes
- Details: Welcome to the world, little guy! He came early and spent a while in the NICU, doing well. I have never felt such love.
- Source: https://x.com/sama/status/1893423520866033865
- Tweet: https://x.com/sama/status/1893423520866033865

### Stood at the White House for the $500B Stargate announcement
- Date: Jan 21, 2025 (2025-01-21)
- Type: milestone
- Highlight: yes
- Details: The Stargate Project was announced — a joint venture between OpenAI, Oracle, SoftBank and MGX to build AI infrastructure with the US government, estimated at $500 billion.
- Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenAI
- Logo: https://logr-uploads.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/seed/sam/e7cee6de-e80c-4cf9-bb31-3e2ced16338d.png

### Published 'Reflections' as ChatGPT turned two
- Date: Jan 6, 2025 (2025-01-06)
- Type: writing
- Highlight: yes
- Details: Looking back on OpenAI's journey as ChatGPT passed its second birthday — including my own firing and return — and ahead to superintelligence.
- Source: https://blog.samaltman.com/reflections
- Link: Essay (https://blog.samaltman.com/reflections)

### Published 'The Intelligence Age'
- Date: Sep 23, 2024 (2024-09-23)
- Type: writing
- Highlight: yes
- Details: In a few decades we'll be able to do things that would have seemed like magic to our grandparents — deep learning worked, and the Intelligence Age has begun.
- Source: https://ia.samaltman.com
- Link: Essay (https://ia.samaltman.com)

### Signed the Giving Pledge
- Date: May 2024 (2024-05-01)
- Type: milestone
- Highlight: yes
- Details: Oliver and I committed to giving away most of our wealth by signing the Giving Pledge.
- Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Altman

### Married Oliver Mulherin in Hawaii
- Date: Jan 2024 (2024-01-01)
- Type: side quest
- Highlight: yes
- Details: Oliver and I married in January 2024 at our estate in Hawaii. We live in San Francisco's Russian Hill and spend weekends in Napa.
- Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Altman

### Fired by OpenAI's board — and back five days later
- Date: Nov 17, 2023 (2023-11-17)
- Type: milestone
- Highlight: yes
- Details: OpenAI's board removed me as CEO for not being "consistently candid". The backlash from employees and investors brought me back within five days, with a new board formed. In the middle of it, all I could say was: i love the openai team so much.
- Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Altman
- Logo: https://logr-uploads.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/seed/sam/1cb44b72-bd74-4edb-a181-877f125e7819.png
- Tweet: https://x.com/sama/status/1726099792600903681

### Testified before the US Senate on AI oversight
- Date: May 16, 2023 (2023-05-16)
- Type: talk
- Highlight: yes
- Details: I testified before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law about how AI should be overseen.
- Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Altman

### Toured 22 countries talking AI with world leaders
- Date: May 2023 (2023-05-01)
- Type: talk
- Highlight: yes
- Details: After ChatGPT took off I made a world tour across 22 countries, meeting leaders including Sunak, Macron, Scholz, Modi, Yoon, Herzog and von der Leyen.
- Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Altman
- Photos: https://logr-uploads.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/seed/sam/b260665f-c751-49c5-8bf9-973ca852d67e.jpg

### Sat down with Lex Fridman on GPT-4 and the future of AI
- Date: Mar 25, 2023 (2023-03-25)
- Type: talk
- Highlight: yes
- Details: A long conversation on the Lex Fridman Podcast (#367) — GPT-4, AI safety, AGI, power, Elon, and the meaning of life.
- Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_Guz73e6fw
- Videos: https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/L_Guz73e6fw

### Released GPT-4
- Date: Mar 14, 2023 (2023-03-14)
- Type: milestone
- Highlight: yes
- Details: We released GPT-4 — as an API and as a feature of ChatGPT Plus.
- Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenAI
- Logo: https://logr-uploads.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/seed/sam/a7401a10-0a8c-4779-92e7-9b3e12462ab3.png

### Launched ChatGPT
- Date: Nov 2022 (2022-11-01)
- Type: milestone
- Highlight: yes
- Details: We launched ChatGPT in November 2022. The free preview crossed a million signups in its first five days — and set off the AI boom.
- Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Altman
- Logo: https://logr-uploads.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/seed/sam/eb4f56de-3db5-40dc-b87e-4e3428a3d60c.png
- Photos: https://logr-uploads.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/seed/sam/e840c3aa-e133-4871-8789-778bdfc548d1.jpg

### Wrote 'Moore's Law for Everything'
- Date: Mar 16, 2021 (2021-03-16)
- Type: writing
- Highlight: yes
- Details: An essay on how AI will create phenomenal wealth while the price of labor falls toward zero — and the policy we'd need to distribute that wealth fairly.
- Source: https://moores.samaltman.com
- Link: Essay (https://moores.samaltman.com)

### Left Y Combinator to run OpenAI full-time
- Date: Mar 2019 (2019-03-01)
- Type: work
- Highlight: yes
- Details: In March 2019 I left YC and began focusing full-time as CEO of OpenAI.
- Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Altman
- Logo: https://logr-uploads.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/seed/sam/0b04fa71-e2e2-49fc-937f-714c924d8af9.png
- Photos: https://logr-uploads.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/seed/sam/c597b026-96b7-424f-8ce7-6f310f4d51f7.jpg

### Published 'How to Be Successful'
- Date: Jan 24, 2019 (2019-01-24)
- Type: writing
- Highlight: yes
- Details: Thirteen thoughts on how to achieve outlier success — compounding yourself, having almost too much self-belief, and making it easy to take risks.
- Source: https://blog.samaltman.com/how-to-be-successful
- Link: Essay (https://blog.samaltman.com/how-to-be-successful)

### Co-founded Tools for Humanity
- Date: Jan 2019 (2019-01-01)
- Type: work
- Highlight: yes
- Details: With Alex Blania and others I co-founded Tools for Humanity, the company behind Worldcoin — eye-scanning proof-of-personhood for the AI era.
- Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Altman
- Logo: https://logr-uploads.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/seed/sam/3315a32c-8b6b-422c-9f5c-3d9bfe95c5fe.png

### Copped to being a prepper
- Date: Jan 2016 (2016-01-01)
- Type: side quest
- Highlight: yes
- Details: "I have guns, gold, potassium iodide, antibiotics, batteries, water, gas masks from the Israeli Defense Force, and a big patch of land in Big Sur I can fly to" — as I put it in 2016.
- Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Altman

### Co-founded OpenAI
- Date: Dec 2015 (2015-12-01)
- Type: milestone
- Highlight: yes
- Details: With Greg Brockman, Elon Musk, Jessica Livingston, Peter Thiel and others, we founded OpenAI as a nonprofit with $1 billion in pledges — framed in early conversations as a counterweight to Google's AI development.
- Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Altman
- Logo: https://logr-uploads.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/seed/sam/30d5295c-0c6b-4563-9360-983b5c2f2fa3.png

### Ran Reddit as CEO — for eight days
- Date: Nov 2014 (2014-11-01)
- Type: side quest
- Highlight: yes
- Details: For eight days in 2014 I was CEO of Reddit after Yishan Wong resigned. One of the stranger lines on my résumé; I stayed on the board until 2022.
- Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Altman
- Logo: https://logr-uploads.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/seed/sam/4e242e75-8142-47ef-bbc8-f1534e119a39.png

### Became president of Y Combinator
- Date: Jan 2014 (2014-01-01)
- Type: work
- Highlight: yes
- Details: Paul Graham handed me the reins of Y Combinator; I served as president from 2014 to 2019, later expanding the role to president of YC Group.
- Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Altman
- Logo: https://logr-uploads.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/seed/sam/612bc6f9-dd53-41c3-871f-1cc3c79d9074.png
- Photos: https://logr-uploads.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/seed/sam/9de85d76-b630-44e7-9309-3003871bd217.jpg

### Sold Loopt to Green Dot for $43M
- Date: Mar 2012 (2012-03-01)
- Type: milestone
- Highlight: yes
- Details: Loopt never found the user traction we wanted, and in March 2012 it was acquired by Green Dot Corporation for $43 million.
- Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Altman

### Joined Y Combinator as a partner
- Date: Jan 2011 (2011-01-01)
- Type: work
- Highlight: yes
- Details: I became a partner at Y Combinator, initially part-time, working with early-stage startups.
- Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Altman
- Logo: https://logr-uploads.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/seed/sam/4f17081e-c426-4bf5-aa8d-e83a88628868.png

### Dropped out of Stanford to co-found Loopt at 19
- Date: Jan 2005 (2005-01-01)
- Type: work
- Highlight: yes
- Details: After two years of computer science at Stanford I dropped out and co-founded Loopt, a location-based social app — raising more than $30M in venture capital as CEO.
- Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Altman
- Photos: https://logr-uploads.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/seed/sam/6b9a4fc8-f706-4390-989c-3bf515e99f53.png

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