History of Sam Altman in Timeline

Sam Altman is the CEO of OpenAI, a leading artificial intelligence research organization. He is widely recognized as a prominent figure in the AI boom, particularly after overseeing the successful launch of ChatGPT in 2022. Altman's leadership at OpenAI has solidified his position as a key player in shaping the future of AI technology.

Sections (4)

Full Timeline Early Life & Education Career & Achievements Success & Recognition

April 22, 1985: Samuel Altman Born

On April 22, 1985, Samuel Harris Altman was born. He is an American businessman and entrepreneur.

Others born on this day/year

1989: Family Moved to Clayton, Missouri

In 1989, the Altman family moved to Jerry's hometown of Clayton, Missouri.

2005: Dropped out of Stanford

In 2005, Sam Altman dropped out of Stanford University after studying computer science for two years.

2005: Co-founded Loopt

In 2005, at the age of 19, Sam Altman co-founded Loopt, a location-based social networking mobile application.

2011: Became a partner at Y Combinator

In 2011, Sam Altman became a partner at startup accelerator Y Combinator (YC), initially working on a part-time basis.

2011: Joined Y Combinator

In 2011, Sam Altman joined Y Combinator, a technology startup accelerator and venture capital firm.

March 2012: Loopt Acquired by Green Dot Corporation

In March 2012, after failing to gain significant user traction, Loopt was acquired by the Green Dot Corporation for $43.4 million.

April 2012: Co-founded Hydrazine Capital

In April 2012, Sam Altman co-founded Hydrazine Capital with his brother, Jack Altman.

2012: Breakup with Nick Sivo

In 2012, Sam Altman broke up with Nick Sivo, his partner of nine years, shortly after Loopt was acquired.

February 2014: Became President of Y Combinator

In February 2014, Sam Altman became the president of Y Combinator.

2014: CEO of Reddit

For eight days in 2014, Sam Altman was the CEO of Reddit, a social media company, after CEO Yishan Wong resigned.

2014: President of Y Combinator

In 2014, Sam Altman became the president of Y Combinator.

July 10, 2015: Steve Huffman returned as CEO of Reddit

On July 10, 2015, Sam Altman announced the return of Steve Huffman as CEO of Reddit. He remained on its board until 2022.

October 2015: Involved in expanding YC's scope

In October 2015, Sam Altman was involved in expanding YC's scope, and contributed $10 million to the initial fund of Y Combinator Research, and announced YC Continuity, a fund to invest in maturing YC companies.

2015: OpenAI Founded

In 2015, OpenAI was initially founded as a nonprofit organization by Altman, Greg Brockman, Elon Musk, Jessica Livingston, Peter Thiel, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, Infosys, and YC Research.

2015: Meeting Oliver Mulherin

In 2015, Sam Altman met his future husband, Oliver Mulherin, "in Peter Thiel's hot tub at 3 a.m."

2015: Motivations and Concerns about AI safety

In 2015, Sam Altman said they were partly motivated by concerns about AI safety and existential risk from artificial general intelligence.

September 2016: President of YC Group

In September 2016, Sam Altman's role at YC expanded to president of YC Group, which included Y Combinator and other units.

2016: Apocalypse Preparation

In 2016, Sam Altman stated that he is an apocalypse preparer with guns, gold, potassium iodide, antibiotics, batteries, water, gas masks, and land in Big Sur.

2016: Invited to Bilderberg Meeting

In 2016, Sam Altman was invited to attend the Bilderberg Meeting.

2017: Mention as a friend in Thiel's Circle

In 2017, Sam Altman was mentioned as a friend in Peter Thiel's circle by BuzzFeed News. He thanked Matt Danzeisen for contributing to his essays on development of AI and China.

2018: Musk Resigned from Board of Directors

In 2018, Elon Musk resigned from his Board of Directors seat, citing "a potential future conflict [of interest]" with his role as CEO of Tesla.

2018: Consideration and Abandonment of California Gubernatorial Run; Announcement of "The United Slate"

In 2018, Sam Altman contemplated running for governor of California but decided against it. Also in 2018, he announced "the United Slate", a political project to improve U.S. housing and healthcare policy.

March 2019: Left Y Combinator

In March 2019, Sam Altman left Y Combinator to focus full time as CEO of OpenAI.

2019: OpenAI Funds

In 2019, OpenAI stated that $130 million of the pledged funds had been collected.

2019: Co-founded Tools For Humanity

In 2019, Sam Altman co-founded the for-profit company Tools For Humanity.

2019: Fundraiser for Andrew Yang

In 2019, Sam Altman held a fundraiser at his home in San Francisco for Andrew Yang, who was running for president at the time.

2019: YC moved headquarters

In 2019, Y Combinator moved its headquarters to San Francisco, and Sam Altman and YC began to claim that Altman had transitioned from president to a less hands-on role as chairman of the board.

May 2020: Donation to American Bridge 21st Century

In May 2020, Sam Altman donated $250,000 to American Bridge 21st Century, a super PAC supporting Joe Biden's presidential campaign.

2020: Termination of relationship with YC

In early 2020, Sam Altman and Y Combinator terminated their relationship.

March 2021: Co-founded AltC Acquisition Corp

In March 2021, Sam Altman and investment banker Michael Klein co-founded AltC Acquisition Corp, a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC), where he was also the CEO.

2021: Investment in Reddit

In 2021, Sam Altman invested in multiple rounds of funding for Reddit.

2021: "Moore's Law for Everything" Blog Post

In 2021, Sam Altman published a blog post titled "Moore's Law for Everything" where he expressed his belief that AI could generate enough value to fund a universal basic income (UBI) of $13,500 per year for every adult in the United States within ten years.

December 2022: ChatGPT Launch

In December 2022, OpenAI received widespread media coverage after launching a free preview of ChatGPT, a new AI chatbot based on GPT-3.5.

2022: ChatGPT Launch

In 2022, Sam Altman oversaw the successful launch of ChatGPT.

2022: Stepped down from the Board of Reddit

In 2022, Sam Altman stepped down from the Board of Reddit.

2022: Invited to Bilderberg Meeting

In 2022, Sam Altman was invited to attend the Bilderberg Meeting.

March 2023: SVB Depositor Run

During the depositor run on Silicon Valley Bank in mid-March 2023, Sam Altman provided capital to multiple startups.

May 2023: World Tour

After the success of ChatGPT, Sam Altman made a world tour in May 2023, during which he visited 22 countries and met multiple leaders and diplomats.

May 16, 2023: Testified before Senate Subcommittee

On May 16, 2023, Sam Altman testified before the United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law about issues of AI oversight.

November 2023: Helen Toner's Explanation of Altman's Firing

In November 2023, former board member Helen Toner explained that the board fired Sam Altman because he withheld information, like not informing the board about ChatGPT's release and his ownership of OpenAI's startup fund. She also alleged psychological abuse and employee fear of retaliation.

November 17, 2023: Removed as CEO of OpenAI

On November 17, 2023, OpenAI's board announced that they had made the decision to remove Sam Altman as CEO, citing that he "was not consistently candid in his communications".

November 21, 2023: Returned to OpenAI

On November 21, 2023, Sam Altman and Greg Brockman returned to OpenAI in their prior roles along with a reconstructed board.

2023: Projected revenue

According to anonymous sources cited by Reuters in December 2022, OpenAI Global, LLC was projecting $200 million of revenue in 2023.

2023: Tools for Humanity scanned millions eyes

By 2023, Tools For Humanity had scanned two million people's eyes and raised $250 million from several investors.

2023: Hydrazine launched fourth fund

In 2023, Hydrazine launched its fourth fund, with the University of Michigan endowment as the only outside investor.

2023: Invited to Bilderberg Meeting

In 2023, Sam Altman was invited to attend the Bilderberg Meeting.

2023: Boosting Dean Phillips

In 2023, Sam Altman was involved in boosting Representative Dean Phillips as he prepared a challenge to President Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination.

2023: Ousted and Reinstated as OpenAI CEO

In 2023, Sam Altman was ousted as CEO of OpenAI by the board of directors but was reinstated five days later after backlash from employees and investors.

2023: Thiel's warning to Altman

In 2023, at a birthday party Thiel organized for Danzeisen, Thiel warned Altman that half of Altman's subordinates at OpenAI, who had supposedly been "programmed" by Eliezer Yudkowsky, wanted to remove Altman.

January 2024: Marriage to Oliver Mulherin

In January 2024, Sam Altman married Oliver Mulherin at their estate in Hawaii.

February 2024: Musk Sued OpenAI and Altman

In February 2024, Elon Musk sued OpenAI and Sam Altman, alleging they broke the company's founding agreement by prioritizing profit over benefit to humanity.

March 2024: Bloomberg Billionaires Index

Sam Altman debuted on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index in March 2024 with an estimated net worth of $2 billion, primarily from his venture capital funds related to Hydrazine Capital.

May 2024: Oklo Inc. completed a merger

In May 2024, Oklo Inc. completed a merger with the SPAC AltC Acquisition Corp to become a public company.

May 2024: Signing The Giving Pledge

In May 2024, Sam Altman and Oliver Mulherin committed to giving away most of their wealth by signing The Giving Pledge.

May 2024: Accusations of Lying and Exposure of Non-Disparagement Agreements

In May 2024, Sam Altman was accused of lying about awareness of equity cancellation provisions in OpenAI's non-disparagement agreements. Also in May, Helen Toner explained the board's rationale for firing Altman.

June 2024: Investment Portfolio

As of June 2024, Sam Altman's investment portfolio includes stakes in over 400 companies, valued at around $2.8 billion.

November 18, 2024: Appointment to Daniel Lurie's Transition Team

On November 18, 2024, San Francisco Mayor-Elect Daniel Lurie named Sam Altman to his transition team.

December 2024: Reported Donation to Trump's Inaugural Fund

In December 2024, it was reported that Sam Altman would donate $1 million to the Inaugural Fund for President Donald Trump.

2024: Projected revenue

According to anonymous sources cited by Reuters in December 2022, OpenAI Global, LLC was projecting $1 billion of revenue in 2024.

2024: Suggestion of "Universal Basic Compute"

In 2024, Sam Altman suggested a new type of UBI called "universal basic compute," which would provide everyone with a "slice" of ChatGPT's computing power.

2024: Third-Largest Shareholder of Reddit

Prior to Reddit's initial public offering in 2024, Sam Altman was listed as its third-largest shareholder, with around 9% ownership.

January 2025: Lawsuit Alleging Sexual Abuse

In January 2025, Sam Altman's sister, Ann Altman, filed a lawsuit alleging sexual abuse by Sam in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri in St. Louis. The lawsuit alleges that the abuse started when Ann was aged three and Sam was 12. Sam Altman, along with his mother and brothers, issued a joint statement denying the allegations.

March 20, 2025: Fundraiser for Senator Mark Warner

On March 20, 2025, Sam Altman hosted a fundraiser in San Francisco for Senator Mark Warner, a Democrat up for re-election in 2026 in Virginia.

April 2025: Stepped down as chairman of Oklo

In April 2025, Sam Altman stepped down as chairman of Oklo to "avoid conflict of interest".

July 4, 2025: Statement on Political Ideology

On July 4, 2025, Sam Altman posted on X, sharing his political ideology, saying that he believed in "techno-capitalism" and found himself increasingly "politically homeless", criticizing the Democratic Party.

September 2025: Interview with Tucker Carlson

In September 2025, Sam Altman was interviewed by Tucker Carlson. They discussed the death of Suchir Balaji and the adherence of ChatGPT to American values.