Sam Altman

Biography

Samuel Harris Altman (born April 22, 1985) is an American businessman and entrepreneur who has been the chief executive officer (CEO) of the artificial intelligence research organization OpenAI since 2019. Altman attended Stanford University for two years before dropping out and co-founding Loopt, a smartphone geosocial networking service, which raised more than US$30 million in venture capital before being acquired by Green Dot Corporation for $43.4 million in cash. In 2011, Altman joined Y Combinator, a technology startup accelerator and venture capital firm, and was the company's president from 2014 to 2019. After co-founding OpenAI in 2015, Altman later became the organization's CEO in 2019. In 2023, he was ousted by the organization's board of directors, who cited a lack of "confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI" in an official post. However, the move was met with significant backlash from employees and investors, resulting in Altman's reinstatement five days later and the formation of a new board. Having overseen the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, he has been described as one of the leading figures of the AI boom. In 2025, Altman was named among the "Architects of AI" for Time's Person of the Year. His net worth was estimated at US$3.3 billion by Forbes in March 2026.