2023-11-20 00:10:36
Sam Altman, the visible face of OpenAI, which launched the generative artificial intelligence platform ChatGPT, became a leading figure in Silicon Valley in the blink of an eye, before being struck down on Friday as head of the company. The news of his dismissal took Silicon Valley by surprise, since Altman, 38, had been recognized as a pioneer and one of the most prominent figures in AI.
In a post on X, the technology guru said that his time at OpenAI had transformed “the world” and him as a person. Altman, along with Tesla boss Elon Musk and others, in 2015 launched OpenAI, a research company with the stated goal of developing generative AI technology for the benefit of humanity.
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“The technological progress we make in the next 100 years will be far greater than anything we have done since we controlled fire and invented the wheel,” Altman said in a blog post in 2021.
Startup guru
Born in 1985, Altman grew up in a St. Louis suburb, where he got his first computer at age eight, according to a profile published in the New Yorker in 2016. Computers and access to an online community, he acknowledged to Esquire magazine , helped him cope with his homosexuality in a conservative area of the country.
Like so many tech figures before him, Altman dropped out of Stanford University to found a company, Loopt, that allowed smartphone users to share their locations.
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Loopt was acquired in 2012 for $43.4 million, an operation that opened the doors to Silicon Valley. He took a year off during which she read dozens of books on subjects that interested her, she wrote in a post. During that time she talked a lot about nuclear engineering, synthetic biology, investments and artificial intelligence. “The seeds were planted for things that later worked,” he said.
In 2014, Altman became president of Y Combinator, an “accelerator” that offers startups guidance and funding in exchange for a percentage of the companies.
– T-shirts and shorts –
Altman expanded Y Combinator’s investment strategy beyond software startups to biotechnology, energy and other fields.
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“Think fast and speak fast; It is intense, but in a good way,” says Derek Greenfield, founder of Industrial Microbes, who met this entrepreneur when his biotechnology company was receiving support from Y Combinator.
Greenfield remembers that Altman always dressed casually, sometimes in a T-shirt and shorts. He “had his feet on the ground.” He left Y Combinator to focus on AI despite the feared risks. “He is a very deep thinker who is incredibly focused on doing things right,” said Jeremy Goldman, senior director of marketing and commerce at Insider Intelligence.
Altma says the combination of artificial intelligence, robotics and energy can allow machines to do all the work and provide a “basic income” to adults throughout society.
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“A great future is not complicated: we need technology to create more wealth and policies to distribute it fairly,” Altman wrote in a blog. “Everything necessary will be cheap, and everyone will have enough money to be able to afford it.”
– ‘Prepper’ –
Altman told the New Yorker that he was a “prepper,” someone who has facilities and supplies to survive an apocalyptic disaster. In a blog entry of his, Altman states that on the last day of December he writes a list of things he wants to do next year.
Its investments include start-ups working on fusion energy and human life extension. “I’m very optimistic,” he said in a podcast with Chris Anderson.
“It’s always easy to condemn yourself and think about how bad things are,” Altman added, “but the good things are really good and they’re getting a lot better.”
In context: Sam Altman, the genius behind ChatGPT
Altman has testified before the US Congress and spoken to heads of state about AI as pressure mounts to regulate this technology, under fire for its possible use in biological weapons and disinformation campaigns.
Hours before being fired, he told AFP, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum held in San Francisco, that we cannot always predict the future. “The dangerous thing … is all the new things, the known unknowns, the unknown unknowns that are going to emerge,” he said.
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