Meet OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who learned to code at 8 and is a doomsday prepper with a stash of gold, guns, and gas masks

Britney NguyenFeb 3, 2023, 14:01 IST

Sam Altman is well known in the startup scene in Silicon Valley, and his latest company's product, ChatGPT, is the talk of the AI industry.Courtesy of Sam Altman

Sam Altman is the CEO of OpenAI, the buzzy AI firm he cofounded with Elon Musk.
Before that, he was well known in Silicon Valley as president of startup accelerator Y-Combinator.

Sam Altman, 37, grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. He learned how to program and take apart a Macintosh computer when he was 8 years old.

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He told The New Yorker that having a Mac helped him with his sexuality. Altman came out to his parents when he was 16.

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He attended John Burroughs School, a private, non-sectarian college-preparatory school in St. Louis.

Joseph Sohm / Shutterstock

Altman studied computer science at Stanford University for two years before he and two of his classmates dropped out to work full time on their mobile app, Loopt, that shared a user's location with their friends.

turtix/Shutterstock

Altman studied computer science at Stanford University for two years before he and two of his classmates dropped out to work full time on their mobile app, Loopt, that shared a user's location with their friends.

Loopt was part of the first group of eight companies at startup accelerator Y Combinator. Each startup got $6,000 per founder, and Loopt was in the same batch as Reddit.

Getty Images

Loopt was part of the first group of eight companies at startup accelerator Y Combinator. Each startup got $6,000 per founder, and Loopt was in the same batch as Reddit.

Loopt eventually reached a $175 million valuation, but it didn't garner enough interest, so the founders sold it for $43 million in 2012.

Drew Angerer/Getty

After Loopt, Altman founded a venture fund called Hydrazine Capital, and raised $21 million. That included a large part of the $5 million he got from Loopt, and an investment from billionaire entrepreneur and venture capitalist Peter Thiel.

Peter Thiel holding hundred dollar bills while speaking at the Bitcoin 2022 Conference.Marco Bello/Getty Images

After Loopt, Altman founded a venture fund called Hydrazine Capital, and raised $21 million. That included a large part of the $5 million he got from Loopt, and an investment from billionaire entrepreneur and venture capitalist Peter Thiel.

At 31, Altman was chosen by Paul Graham, who founded Y Combinator in 2005, to succeed him as president in 2014.

Sam Altman, chief executive officer of Y Combinator, speaks to reporters on the first day of the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 11, 2017 in Sun Valley, Idaho.Drew Angerer/Getty Images

While he was YC president, Altman taught a lecture series at Stanford called "How to Start a Startup," in the fall of 2014.

Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

In 2015, Altman was featured on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for venture capital at age 29.

Sam Altman.Courtesy of Sam Altman

After he became YC president, he wanted to let more science and engineering startups into each batch, and chose a fission and a fusion startup for YC because he wanted to start a nuclear-energy company of his own. He invested his own money in both companies and served on their boards.

Sam Altman, president of Y Combinator and co-chairman of OpenAI, attends the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 8, 2016 in Sun Valley, Idaho.Drew Angerer/Getty

After he became YC president, he wanted to let more science and engineering startups into each batch, and chose a fission and a fusion startup for YC because he wanted to start a nuclear-energy company of his own. He invested his own money in both companies and served on their boards.

Altman once told two YC founders that he likes racing cars and had five, including two McLarens and an old Tesla. He also said he likes renting planes and flying them all over California.

The McLaren 720S.McLaren

Altman once told two YC founders that he likes racing cars and had five, including two McLarens and an old Tesla. He also said he likes renting planes and flying them all over California.

Altman told the founders of the startup Shypmate that, "I prep for survival," and warned of either a "lethal synthetic virus," AI attacking humans, or nuclear war.

Drew Angerer/Getty

Altman's mom is a dermatologist, and told The New Yorker, "Sam does keep an awful lot tied up inside. He'll call and say he has a headache—and he'll have Googled it, so there's some cyber-chondria in there, too. I have to reassure him that he doesn't have meningitis or lymphoma, that it's just stress."

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Altman's mom is a dermatologist, and told The New Yorker, "Sam does keep an awful lot tied up inside. He'll call and say he has a headache—and he'll have Googled it, so there's some cyber-chondria in there, too. I have to reassure him that he doesn't have meningitis or lymphoma, that it's just stress."

Altman has a brother, Jack, who is also a cofounder and CEO at Lattice, an employee management platform. Along with their brother Max, the Altmans launched a fund in 2020 called Apollo that is focused on funding "moonshot" companies.

Julia and Jack Altman walk near their home in the Mission District of San Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, July 7, 2019.San Francisco Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers via Getty Images/Contributor

Altman has a brother, Jack, who is also a cofounder and CEO at Lattice, an employee management platform. Along with their brother Max, the Altmans launched a fund in 2020 called Apollo that is focused on funding "moonshot" companies.

In 2015, Altman cofounded OpenAI with Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX at the time. Their goal for the non-profit artificial intelligence company was to make sure AI doesn't wipe out humans.

Elon Musk and Sam Altman speak onstage during the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit on October 6, 2015 in San Francisco, California.Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Vanity Fair

In 2015, Altman cofounded OpenAI with Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX at the time. Their goal for the non-profit artificial intelligence company was to make sure AI doesn't wipe out humans.

Some of Silicon Valley's most prominent names pledged $1 billion to OpenAI along with Altman and Musk, including Reid Hoffman, the cofounder of LinkedIn, and Peter Thiel.

LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman is a financial backer of OpenAI.Tony Avelar/AP

Some of Silicon Valley's most prominent names pledged $1 billion to OpenAI along with Altman and Musk, including Reid Hoffman, the cofounder of LinkedIn, and Peter Thiel.

After the 2016 election, Altman, who tweeted that he voted against Donald Trump, said he decided to talk to 100 Trump supporters around the US to understand what they did and didn't like about the president. He also wanted to know "what would convince them not to vote for him in the future."

Donald Trump and Hillary ClintonDrew Angerer/Getty Image

After the 2016 election, Altman, who tweeted that he voted against Donald Trump, said he decided to talk to 100 Trump supporters around the US to understand what they did and didn't like about the president. He also wanted to know "what would convince them not to vote for him in the future."

Altman stepped down as YC president in March 2019 to focus on OpenAI. He stayed in a chairman role at the accelerator.

Sam Altman, CEO of Y Combinator@sama

At a StrictlyVC event in 2019, Altman was asked how OpenAI planned to make a profit, and he said the "honest answer is we have no idea."

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Elon MuskGetty

Altman became CEO of OpenAI in May 2019 after it turned away from being a nonprofit company into a "capped profit" corporation.

Skye Gould/Business Insider

Altman flew to Seattle to meet with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, where demonstrated OpenAI's AI models for him, WSJ reported. After that, OpenAI received a $1 billion investment from Microsoft in 2019.

President of Y Combinator, Sam Altman speaks at TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2014 - Day 1 on May 5, 2014 in New York City.Brian Ach/Getty Images for TechCrunch

Altman flew to Seattle to meet with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, where demonstrated OpenAI's AI models for him, WSJ reported. After that, OpenAI received a $1 billion investment from Microsoft in 2019.

Current and former insiders at OpenAI told Fortune that after Altman took over as CEO, and after the investment from Microsoft, the company started focusing more on developing natural language processing.

Sam Altman, founder of OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT.Steve Jennings/Getty Images

Current and former insiders at OpenAI told Fortune that after Altman took over as CEO, and after the investment from Microsoft, the company started focusing more on developing natural language processing.

On October 21, 2021, Altman and his cofounders, Alex Blania and Max Novendstern, launched a global cryptocurrency project called Worldcoin, which wanted to give everyone in the world access to crypto by scanning their iris with an orb.

Worldcoin founders Alex Blania and Sam AltmanMarc Olivier Le Blanc/Worldcoin

On October 21, 2021, Altman and his cofounders, Alex Blania and Max Novendstern, launched a global cryptocurrency project called Worldcoin, which wanted to give everyone in the world access to crypto by scanning their iris with an orb.

Under Altman's tenure as CEO, OpenAI has released popular generative AI tools to the public, including DALL-E and ChatGPT.

Screenshot of Dall-E webpageOpenAI

ChatGPT was made public so OpenAI could use feedback from users to improve the bot. A few days after its launch, Altman tweeted that it "is incredibly limited, but good enough at some things to create a misleading impression of greatness."

Getty Images

ChatGPT was made public so OpenAI could use feedback from users to improve the bot. A few days after its launch, Altman tweeted that it "is incredibly limited, but good enough at some things to create a misleading impression of greatness."

This month, Microsoft again announced it was making a "multibillion dollar" investment into OpenAI. Although specifics of the investment were not shared, it is believed Microsoft's investment is worth $10 billion.

Y Combinator President Sam AltmanDavid Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

This month, Microsoft again announced it was making a "multibillion dollar" investment into OpenAI. Although specifics of the investment were not shared, it is believed Microsoft's investment is worth $10 billion.

Altman is still interested in nuclear fusion, and gave Helion Energy $375 million last year.

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, walks from lunch during the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference on July 06, 2022 in Sun Valley, Idaho.Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

OpenAI just launched its pilot subscription plan for ChatGPT Plus, which costs $20 a month.

Illustration: ChatGPTFuture Publishing/

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Meet OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who learned to code at 8 and is a doomsday prepper with a stash of gold, guns, and gas masks

Sam Altman, 37, grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. He learned how to program and take apart a Macintosh computer when he was 8 years old.

He told The New Yorker that having a Mac helped him with his sexuality. Altman came out to his parents when he was 16.

He attended John Burroughs School, a private, non-sectarian college-preparatory school in St. Louis.

Altman studied computer science at Stanford University for two years before he and two of his classmates dropped out to work full time on their mobile app, Loopt, that shared a user's location with their friends.

Loopt was part of the first group of eight companies at startup accelerator Y Combinator. Each startup got $6,000 per founder, and Loopt was in the same batch as Reddit.

Loopt eventually reached a $175 million valuation, but it didn't garner enough interest, so the founders sold it for $43 million in 2012.

After Loopt, Altman founded a venture fund called Hydrazine Capital, and raised $21 million. That included a large part of the $5 million he got from Loopt, and an investment from billionaire entrepreneur and venture capitalist Peter Thiel.

At 31, Altman was chosen by Paul Graham, who founded Y Combinator in 2005, to succeed him as president in 2014.

While he was YC president, Altman taught a lecture series at Stanford called "How to Start a Startup," in the fall of 2014.

In 2015, Altman was featured on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for venture capital at age 29.

After he became YC president, he wanted to let more science and engineering startups into each batch, and chose a fission and a fusion startup for YC because he wanted to start a nuclear-energy company of his own. He invested his own money in both companies and served on their boards.

Altman once told two YC founders that he likes racing cars and had five, including two McLarens and an old Tesla. He also said he likes renting planes and flying them all over California.

Altman told the founders of the startup Shypmate that, "I prep for survival," and warned of either a "lethal synthetic virus," AI attacking humans, or nuclear war.

Altman has a brother, Jack, who is also a cofounder and CEO at Lattice, an employee management platform. Along with their brother Max, the Altmans launched a fund in 2020 called Apollo that is focused on funding "moonshot" companies.

In 2015, Altman cofounded OpenAI with Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX at the time. Their goal for the non-profit artificial intelligence company was to make sure AI doesn't wipe out humans.

Some of Silicon Valley's most prominent names pledged $1 billion to OpenAI along with Altman and Musk, including Reid Hoffman, the cofounder of LinkedIn, and Peter Thiel.

After the 2016 election, Altman, who tweeted that he voted against Donald Trump, said he decided to talk to 100 Trump supporters around the US to understand what they did and didn't like about the president. He also wanted to know "what would convince them not to vote for him in the future."

Altman stepped down as YC president in March 2019 to focus on OpenAI. He stayed in a chairman role at the accelerator.

At a StrictlyVC event in 2019, Altman was asked how OpenAI planned to make a profit, and he said the "honest answer is we have no idea."

Altman became CEO of OpenAI in May 2019 after it turned away from being a nonprofit company into a "capped profit" corporation.

Altman flew to Seattle to meet with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, where demonstrated OpenAI's AI models for him, WSJ reported. After that, OpenAI received a $1 billion investment from Microsoft in 2019.

Current and former insiders at OpenAI told Fortune that after Altman took over as CEO, and after the investment from Microsoft, the company started focusing more on developing natural language processing.

On October 21, 2021, Altman and his cofounders, Alex Blania and Max Novendstern, launched a global cryptocurrency project called Worldcoin, which wanted to give everyone in the world access to crypto by scanning their iris with an orb.

Under Altman's tenure as CEO, OpenAI has released popular generative AI tools to the public, including DALL-E and ChatGPT.

ChatGPT was made public so OpenAI could use feedback from users to improve the bot. A few days after its launch, Altman tweeted that it "is incredibly limited, but good enough at some things to create a misleading impression of greatness."

This month, Microsoft again announced it was making a "multibillion dollar" investment into OpenAI. Although specifics of the investment were not shared, it is believed Microsoft's investment is worth $10 billion.

Altman is still interested in nuclear fusion, and gave Helion Energy $375 million last year.

OpenAI just launched its pilot subscription plan for ChatGPT Plus, which costs $20 a month.