Sam Altman, born on April 22, 1985, is an American businessman, investor, and entrepreneur recognized as a leading figure in the artificial intelligence field. He is the current CEO of OpenAI, a research organization he co-founded in 2015 with the goal of advancing digital intelligence to benefit humanity. Altman gained widespread recognition for overseeing the successful launch of ChatGPT in 2022, a generative chatbot that can respond to written or spoken prompts.
Before his work with OpenAI, Altman co-founded Loopt, a location-based social networking mobile application, after dropping out of Stanford University. He later joined Y Combinator, a startup accelerator and venture capital firm, becoming its president in 2014. Altman stepped down from Y Combinator in 2019 to focus on OpenAI. In addition to his work in AI, Altman has investments in companies like Reddit and Stripe. Before Reddit's initial public offering in 2024, Altman was listed as its third-largest shareholder.