Sam Altman
Sam Altman is OpenAI’s co-founder and CEO, a former Y Combinator president, and a writer sharing ideas about startups, AI, and the future.
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Latest
Sam’s happenings, collected from public sources, plus their backstory and Starbook, where fans write.
Known for
Y Combinator
Y CombinatorOverview
- Work
- Entrepreneur, investor, and writer
- First startup
- Loopt, founded in 2005
- Y Combinator
- President, 2014–2019
- OpenAI
- Co-founder; founding co-chair in 2015
- Breakout moment
- ChatGPT’s public launch on November 30, 2022
Mini bio
How it started.
Sam left Stanford after two years to work on Loopt, a location-based social network. The startup joined Y Combinator’s first batch in 2005 and was acquired by Green Dot in 2012.
From founder to mentor.
In 2014, Paul Graham chose Sam to become Y Combinator’s president. Sam led the accelerator until 2019, putting experience from running a startup into helping other founders build theirs.
The ChatGPT turning point.
Sam was a founding co-chair of OpenAI when the research organization was introduced in December 2015. ChatGPT’s public launch in November 2022 brought its work to a much wider audience. In Reflections, Sam describes how a planned demo became a turning point for the company.
Ideas to follow.
Alongside running OpenAI, Sam publishes essays about building companies and living with new technology. How To Be Successful offers advice on independent thinking, persistence, focus, and taking risks. More recent writing explores AI access, safety, and scientific discovery.
Creditschronological, newest first
Writing and conversations
- 2026Why Sam Altman is against a single superintelligenceCheeky Pint interview guest
- 2026Built to benefit everyone: our planCo-author with Jakub Pachocki
- 2025A letter from Sam & JonyCo-author with Jony Ive
- 2025The Gentle SingularityAuthor
- 2024How To Build The Future: Sam AltmanInterview guest
- 2019How To Be SuccessfulAuthor
Companies and milestones
- 2022ChatGPT launchOpenAI CEO at launch
- 2015OpenAICo-founder and founding co-chair
- 2014–2019Y CombinatorPresident
- 2005–2012LooptCo-founder and CEO
Awards
Quotes
Most people overestimate risk and underestimate reward.Sam Altman, How To Be Successful
From the section on taking risks: https://blog.samaltman.com/how-to-be-successful
Trivia
- ChatGPT was temporarily called “Chat With GPT-3.5,” according to Sam’s Reflections essay.
- The Beginning of Infinity by David Deutsch is a favorite book, according to the Axel Springer Award recap. Deutsch joined the ceremony by video call.
- Vivaldi’s Four Seasons has been an inspiration for Sam’s work, according to the award organizers, who opened the ceremony with a live performance.
Find Sam
Follow Sam’s essays and posts about what comes next.
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