Generational Run
Sam Altman
techMarch 28, 2026
grows up in Missouri, learns to code at 8gets into Stanforddrops out to join Y Combinator's first batchhis startup Loopt doesn't really workdoesn't matter, Paul Graham notices he's the smartest guy in the roombecomes president of Y Combinator at 28is now the gatekeeper of Silicon Valleyevery startup founder on earth wants 10 minutes with this guyquietly invests in everything — Stripe, Reddit, Airbnb, Instacartcasually builds one of the best angel portfolios in historythen decides Y Combinator isn't ambitious enoughcofounds OpenAI with Elon Musk as a nonprofit to "benefit humanity"a nonprofit AI labsureOpenAI builds GPT-2 and decides it's too dangerous to releasethe internet says "how dangerous can a text generator be?"they would find outlaunches GPT-3 and developers lose their mindsthen launches ChatGPT on November 30, 2022fastest growing product in human history100 million users in two monthstook TikTok nine months, Instagram two yearsChatGPT did it in eight weeksthe "nonprofit" is now worth $80 billionSam becomes the face of AI overnightgets invited to testify before Congressunlike Zuckerberg, people actually want to hear what he has to saygoes on a world tour meeting heads of statelike a tech founder doing a stadium concert but the audience is prime ministersthe board of OpenAI fires himthis is realthe CEO of the most important AI company on earth gets fired on a Friday afternoonthe entire tech industry panics700 out of 770 employees threaten to quit unless he comes backMicrosoft offers him a jobhe's simultaneously fired, hired, and being begged to returnthe board caves in four daysSam is back as CEO with a new boardthis man got fired and unfired in the same news cycleraises billions from Microsoft, SoftBank, and sovereign wealth fundsOpenAI is now valued at over $150 billionthe nonprofit is now one of the most valuable private companies on earthnobody can explain how that works legallyreleases GPT-4, GPT-4o, o1, and keeps shippingevery product launch reshapes an entire industryteachers, lawyers, coders, writers — everyone is asking "will AI take my job?"Sam says "AI will create more jobs than it destroys"nobody is 100% sure if he believes thishas somehow become the most powerful person in techdidn't build a product, didn't build hardware, didn't build a social networkbuilt a brainand now everyone on earth is using itThe run that made the entire planet wonder if it should be worried. 📈
The run that made the entire planet wonder if it should be worried. 📈