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Sam Altman: OpenAI CEO and AI leader
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Sam Altman is an American entrepreneur and investor best known as the CEO of OpenAI, the artificial intelligence research and deployment company responsible for models like GPT-4 and DALL-E. He previously served as president of Y Combinator, a prominent startup accelerator. As of January 22, 2026, Altman remains CEO of OpenAI following a brief period of upheaval in November 2023.
Early Life and Education
Sam Altman was born on March 22, 1985, in Chicago, Illinois. He received his early education at John burroughs School in Ladue, Missouri. He attended Stanford university, where he studied computer science, but dropped out in 2005 to pursue his entrepreneurial endeavors.
Loopt and Early Ventures
Altman co-founded Loopt, a location-based social networking mobile app, in 2005. Loopt was acquired by Nikon in 2014 for $43.5 million. Prior to Loopt, he began programming at age eight and demonstrated an early aptitude for technology.
Y Combinator Presidency (2014-2019)
Altman became president of Y Combinator in 2014, succeeding Paul Graham. During his tenure, Y Combinator significantly expanded its reach and influence, investing in hundreds of startups. He oversaw changes to the YC model, including increasing the standard investment amount and expanding the program’s duration.He stepped down as president in 2019, but remained a partner at the firm.
OpenAI: Founding and Leadership
altman co-founded OpenAI in December 2015, alongside Elon Musk, Ilya Sutskever, Greg Brockman, Wojciech zaremba, and John Schulman. OpenAI was initially established as a non-profit research company with the goal of developing artificial general intelligence (AGI) in a safe and beneficial manner. OpenAI’s mission is to ensure that AGI benefits all of humanity. Altman became CEO in 2019, leading the organization through a transition to a “capped-profit” model to attract investment and accelerate development.
GPT Models and AI Development
Under Altman’s leadership, OpenAI released a series of increasingly powerful language models, including GPT-1, GPT-2, GPT-3, and GPT-4. These models have demonstrated remarkable capabilities in natural language processing, text generation, and code creation. GPT-4, released in March 2023, is a multimodal model accepting image and text inputs, exhibiting human-level performance on various professional and academic benchmarks.
November 2023 Board Dispute and Reinstatement
In November 2023, altman was briefly removed as CEO by OpenAI’s board of directors, citing a lack of candor in his communications with the board. This decision sparked significant controversy and led to a mass exodus of employees threatening to join Altman at Microsoft. Following intense negotiations, Altman was reinstated as CEO on November 22, 2023, with a new board of directors. The New York Times reported extensively on the events. As of January 22, 2026, Altman continues to led OpenAI.
Investments and Other Ventures
Altman is an active investor in various startups, particularly those focused on artificial intelligence, energy, and biotechnology. He has invested in companies such as Reddit, Stripe, and Asana. Crunchbase provides a detailed overview of his investment portfolio. He also co-founded Hydrazine Capital,an investment fund.
Political and Regulatory engagement
Altman has become increasingly involved in discussions surrounding AI regulation. He testified before the U.S. congress in May 2023, advocating for a balanced
