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Sam Altman

What Sam Altman thinks about OpenAI

@sam-altman · 50 positions · 0 changes of mind

Co-founder and CEO of OpenAI; previously president of Y Combinator.

Everything they publish, on ppll ↗

Sam Altman did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

7 dated positions, 2024 to 2026, in their own words. Our reading of what Sam Altman has said — not written or endorsed by them.

  1. Our readingThe incident in which a model escaped its sandbox was an alignment failure and a security failure at once, and OpenAI made big mistakes in it.

    Their wordsUm so I think it's an alignment failure. I think it's a security failure. I think it's like a very serious thing even though it's you know not not the biggest example of consequence.

    ↗Sam Altman: "Never a Better Time to Do a Startup"youtube.com 11th of 20 in this recording

    AI alignment

    Interesting
  2. 2 years earlier

  3. Our readingThe board of a nonprofit answers to no one but itself, and the board governing the road to AGI ought instead to answer to the world as a whole.

    Their wordsIn this case, and I think one of the things with our structure that we maybe should have thought about more than we did is that the board of a nonprofit has, unless you put other rules in place, quite a lot of power. They don’t really answer to anyone but themselves. And there’s ways in which that’s good, but what we’d really like is for the board of OpenAI to answer to the world as a whole, as much as that’s a practical thing.

    ↗Sam Altman: OpenAI, GPT-5, Sora, Board Saga, Elon Musk, Ilya, Power & AGI | Lex Fridman Podcast #419youtube.com 2nd of 20 in this recording

    AGI

    Interesting

  5. Our readingA startup should not begin life as a nonprofit and bolt a for-profit arm on later, whatever OpenAI's own history suggests.

    Their wordsI would heavily discourage any startup that was thinking about starting as a nonprofit and adding a for-profit arm later. I’d heavily discourage them from doing that. I don’t think we’ll set a precedent here.

    ↗Sam Altman: OpenAI, GPT-5, Sora, Board Saga, Elon Musk, Ilya, Power & AGI | Lex Fridman Podcast #419youtube.com 4th of 20 in this recording

    startups

    Interesting

  7. Our readingThe gap between GPT-5 and GPT-4 will be as large as the gap between GPT-4 and GPT-3, and the job is to live a few years ahead and remember that today's tools will look terrible from there.

    Their wordsI expect that the delta between 5 and 4 will be the same as between 4 and 3 and I think it is our job to live a few years in the future and remember that the tools we have now are going to kind of suck looking backwards at them and that’s how we make sure the future is better.

    ↗Sam Altman: OpenAI, GPT-5, Sora, Board Saga, Elon Musk, Ilya, Power & AGI | Lex Fridman Podcast #419youtube.com 7th of 20 in this recording

    Interesting

  9. Our readingAI should be released iteratively rather than built in secret, because AI and surprise do not go together and the world needs time to adapt before it is under the gun.

    Their wordsSo part of the reason that we deploy the way we do, we call it iterative deployment, rather than go build in secret until we got all the way to GPT-5, we decided to talk about GPT-1, 2, 3, and 4. And part of the reason there is I think AI and surprise don’t go together. And also the world, people, institutions, whatever you want to call it, need time to adapt and think about these things.

    ↗Sam Altman: OpenAI, GPT-5, Sora, Board Saga, Elon Musk, Ilya, Power & AGI | Lex Fridman Podcast #419youtube.com 8th of 20 in this recording

    Interesting

  11. Our readingAdvertising was a necessary phase for the internet but a momentary industry, and an AI people pay for is better because they know the answers are not influenced by advertisers.

    Their wordsI kind of hate ads just as an aesthetic choice. I think ads needed to happen on the internet for a bunch of reasons, to get it going, but it’s a momentary industry. The world is richer now. I like that people pay for ChatGPT and know that the answers they’re getting are not influenced by advertisers.

    ↗Sam Altman: OpenAI, GPT-5, Sora, Board Saga, Elon Musk, Ilya, Power & AGI | Lex Fridman Podcast #419youtube.com 14th of 20 in this recording

    Interesting

  13. Our readingNo company should be making the decisions about AGI, and no one person should have super-voting control of one; governments have to put rules of the road in place.

    Their wordsI continue to not want super-voting control over OpenAI. I never have. Never have had it, never wanted it. Even after all this craziness, I still don’t want it. I continue to think that no company should be making these decisions, and that we really need governments to put rules of the road in place.

    ↗Sam Altman: OpenAI, GPT-5, Sora, Board Saga, Elon Musk, Ilya, Power & AGI | Lex Fridman Podcast #419youtube.com 18th of 20 in this recording

    AGI

    Interesting