Person
Sam Altman
Sam Altman is the co-founder and CEO of OpenAI. He ran the startup Loopt, was president of Y Combinator from 2014 to 2019, and was removed as OpenAI’s CEO in 2023 before returning days later.
Born 1985
AffiliationsOpenAI
Overview
Sam Altman is the co-founder and chief executive of OpenAI, the company that develops ChatGPT and the GPT models.[2] Earlier in his career he ran the startup Loopt and was president of the startup accelerator Y Combinator.[1] Y Combinator, which funds and mentors early-stage startups in batches, is one of the best-known startup accelerators. His career has combined starting companies, running an investment accelerator and leading an AI research organisation.
Education and early career
Altman studied computer science at Stanford for two years and left without a degree in 2005.[1] That year he co-founded the startup Loopt and served as its CEO. Green Dot Corporation acquired Loopt in March 2012 for $43.4 million.[1] The sale was the outcome of the company he had co-founded and led.
He became a partner at the accelerator Y Combinator in 2011, and was its president from February 2014 until 2019.[1]
Key contributions
Altman co-founded OpenAI in 2015 as a nonprofit, with Elon Musk as co-chair.[2] In March 2019 he left Y Combinator to become OpenAI’s CEO full-time.[1] The organisation was set up to pursue AI research with the stated aim of benefiting humanity as a whole, and the chief executive role placed Altman at the centre of its research, product and governance decisions.
At OpenAI’s DevDay on 6 October 2025, Altman announced that more than 800 million people used ChatGPT every week.[3] ChatGPT is a chatbot product built on OpenAI’s models, and its scale is the clearest public measure of how widely those models are used.[3] A chatbot is a program that answers questions and holds a conversation in natural language, so the number of users is a direct way to see how many people have tried this kind of AI.
Positions
Altman is a co-founder of Tools for Humanity, the company behind Worldcoin, which he helped found in 2019. He is also chairman of the fusion company Helion Energy, and was chairman of Oklo until April 2025.[1] These roles are separate from his work leading OpenAI.
On 17 November 2023 OpenAI’s board removed him as CEO, saying he had not been “consistently candid” in his communications with the board. After an agreement on 20 November, he and Greg Brockman returned on 21 November, and Bret Taylor became the new board chair.[2]
Impact
In 2025 Altman was named to the TIME100 AI list of the most influential people in artificial intelligence.[4] His public work has centred on OpenAI, whose ChatGPT product reached more than 800 million weekly users by October 2025.[3] The November 2023 board episode drew wide attention because it involved the board of a company whose products had become widely used, and because the dispute was resolved within days.[2]
CapabilitiesLarge language models
TechniquesFoundation models
ApplicationsConsumer apps
HistoryProduct history
Career timeline
1-
2015
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OpenAI
Founded、Worked at 2015–
OpenAI is a San Francisco AI research and deployment company founded in 2015 as a nonprofit. It makes the GPT model family and ChatGPT and filed confidentially for an IPO in June 2026.
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OpenAI
Founded、Worked at 2015–
Worked at1
Founded1
20263
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ReleaseOpenAI releases GPT-6 Astra
On 3 September 2026 OpenAI began rolling out GPT-6 Astra, first to its Daybreak cybersecurity program and then to ChatGPT paid plans, the API and AWS, after pausing some research following the July breach.
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MilestoneOpenAI confidentially files for an IPO
On 8 June 2026 OpenAI confirmed it had filed confidentially for an IPO with the US SEC, against a 2025 operating loss of $20.92 billion and annualised revenue above $20 billion. The listing was later pushed to 2027.
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MilestoneJury rejects Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI
A jury in Oakland ruled for OpenAI, Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and Microsoft on 18 May 2026, finding that Elon Musk's claims were filed too late under the three-year statute of limitations. Musk says he will appeal.
20254
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MilestoneOpenAI completes its recapitalisation into a public benefit corporation
On 28 October 2025 OpenAI completed a recapitalisation that turned its for-profit arm into OpenAI Group PBC, a public benefit corporation, and renamed the nonprofit the OpenAI Foundation.
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ReleaseOpenAI DevDay 2025: AgentKit, Apps SDK and Codex general availability
OpenAI held DevDay 2025 in San Francisco on 6 October 2025. It announced AgentKit, the Apps SDK and general availability for Codex, and disclosed usage figures for ChatGPT and its API.
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AcquisitionOpenAI acquires Jony Ive's hardware startup io
On 21 May 2025 OpenAI announced it was acquiring io, the AI hardware startup founded by designer Jony Ive, in an all-stock deal valuing io at about $6.5 billion and putting Ive in charge of OpenAI's hardware and design work.
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PartnershipOpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle announce the Stargate Project
Announced at the White House on 21 January 2025, Stargate is a joint venture of OpenAI, SoftBank, Oracle and MGX to build AI data centres, starting with $100 billion and aiming at up to $500 billion by 2029.
20234
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DepartureOpenAI's board fires Sam Altman, who returns days later
In November 2023 OpenAI's board removed CEO Sam Altman, citing a lack of candour; after an employee revolt and a Microsoft offer, he was reinstated within days under a new board.
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ReleaseOpenAI DevDay 2023: GPT-4 Turbo and custom GPTs
On 6 November 2023 OpenAI held its first developer conference, DevDay, announcing GPT-4 Turbo with a 128K context window, custom GPTs built with a GPT Builder, and lower prices across its platform.
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PolicyAI scientists sign a one-sentence statement on extinction risk
On 30 May 2023 the Center for AI Safety published a one-sentence statement arguing that mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority, and leading researchers and lab executives signed it.
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PolicySam Altman testifies before the US Senate on AI oversight
On 16 May 2023 Sam Altman testified before a US Senate Judiciary subcommittee in his first appearance before Congress, asking lawmakers to regulate powerful AI models through licensing and testing.
20192
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PartnershipMicrosoft invests $1 billion in OpenAI and becomes its cloud partner
In July 2019 Microsoft invested $1 billion in OpenAI and became its exclusive computing partner, with OpenAI's services to run on Microsoft Azure.
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MilestoneOpenAI creates the capped-profit OpenAI LP
On 11 March 2019 OpenAI announced OpenAI LP, a "capped-profit" company that let it raise outside capital while limiting investor returns. The structure lasted until October 2025.
20151
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MilestoneOpenAI is founded as a nonprofit AI research lab
In December 2015 a group of entrepreneurs and AI researchers founded OpenAI in San Francisco as a non-profit research company whose stated aim was to advance digital intelligence for humanity's benefit rather than financial return.
Notes and sources
- Sam Altmanhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Altman
- OpenAIhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenAI
- Sam Altman says ChatGPT has hit 800M weekly active usershttps://techcrunch.com/2025/10/06/sam-altman-says-chatgpt-has-hit-800m-weekly-active-users/
- The 100 Most Influential People in AI 2025https://time.com/collections/time100-ai-2025/
Cite this page: Sam Altman. TellWorld, https://www.tellworld.net/people/sam-altman. Updated 2026-11-08