OPENAI
Can Sam Altman even code?
Sam Altman is worth billions of dollars, advises the White House, and runs the massive company behind ChatGPT.
He also, reportedly, mixes up basic machine learning terms in front of his own engineers.
And according to the New Yorker’s recent exposé, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Eighteen months of investigative journalism revealed a series of alarming details, from Altman lying about safety practices to comparing himself to J. Robert Oppenheimer, aka the father of the atomic bomb. (And not because they share a birthday.)
Buried under all of these allegations is a concerning throughline. The guy steering the AI revolution doesn't appear to understand the technology… and he isn't losing sleep over it.
Here's the short version:
The myth: Altman is a Stanford-trained AI whisperer and tech visionary.
The reporting: he dropped out of his Computer Science program and struggles with basic machine learning conversations.
The kicker: while interviewing 100+ sources, words like "liar" and "sociopath" kept coming up.
Beyond the Drama
Empty promises aren’t an anomaly in Silicon Valley. And when speaking with Katie Couric, Ronan Farrow notes that investors often accept a degree of exaggeration as part of the deal.
But there’s a stark difference between conning investors and Altman repeatedly lying about technology that affects everyone, whether they opted in or not.
OpenAI's tech is being threaded into healthcare, education, and government infrastructure. Yet the person at the top may not understand it. And by most accounts, he doesn't seem to care. Doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.
Plus, Altman’s personal credibility is tied to the most consequential technology of our time. And right now, he’s being compared to Sam Bankman-Fried. So… there’s that.
Needless to say, the New Yorker has raised many questions. None of them are going away on their own.
On a completely unrelated note, I'm going outside now. - TL