Who Is Sam Altman? Lesser-Known Facts About The Former CEO Of ChatGPT-Maker OpenAI

ChatGPT-maker OpenAI has fired CEO Sam Altman, as the board "lost confidence in his ability to continue leading". Here are some lesser-known facts about Altman:

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Born into a Jewish family on April 22, 1985, Samuel Harris Altman grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, US. He received his first PC at the age of eight. [Image credit: Getty]

A year after enrolling at Stanford University to study computer science, Altman decided to drop out and pursue other endeavours in 2005. [Image credit: Getty]

After dropping out of Stanford, a 19-year-old Altman co-founded location-based social media app Loopt. Despite his raising $30 million in VC funds, Loopt failed to find its footing and was eventually purchased by Green Dot Corporation for $43.4 million in 2012. [Image credit: Getty]

In 2011, Altman joined as a part-time partner at tech startup accelerator Y Combinator. In 2014, he was named the president of Y Combinator. In 2016, he expanded to being the president of YC Group, which comprised Y Combinator and other units. [Image credit: Getty]

In 2019, Altman decided to focus on AI research lab OpenAI, and hence stepped down from YC Group president to holding a chair on the company’s board. [Image credit: Getty]

In 2020, Altman made the move to fully focus on OpenAI as a CEO and co-founder, which already saw fundings from tech giants such as Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, and others. [Image credit: Getty]

Interestingly, Altman was the CEO of Reddit for a brief eight days in 2014, holding the fort after Yishan Wong stepped down and Steve Huffman returned as CEO. [Image credit: Getty]

Altman also has a crypto link. In 2019, he co-founded Tools for Humanity, which built a cryptocurrency-based global iris-based biometric system, called Worldcoin. The company received flak after a 2022 report by MIT Technology Review revealed that it exploited impoverished workers in low-income countries to grow the network. [Image credit: Getty]

Thanks to his investments in startups such as Airbnb, Stripe, Pinterest, Reddit, and others, along with his work with OpenAI, Altman was named one of the 100 most influential people by Time magazine this year. [Image credit: Getty]

Despite noteworthy recognitions, including being mentioned on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list in 2015, there are no details on Sam Altman’s net worth on any recognised platform, including Bloomberg. [Image credit: Getty]

Having previously dated Loopt co-founder Nick Sivo for a prolonged spell, he is currently in a relationship with Australian software engineer Oliver Mulherin. Altman was recognised by GLAAD with the Ric Weiland Award for promoting LGBTQ equality and acceptance in tech. [Image credit: Getty]

After getting fired, Altman tweeted that his time at OpenAI was "transformative" and that he'd reveal his future plans soon.