Sam Altman is the chief executive of OpenAI, the San Francisco-based artificial intelligence research organisation behind the GPT series of large language models and the ChatGPT product. He first came to prominence as president of Y Combinator, the influential startup accelerator, where he oversaw investments in hundreds of early-stage technology companies. Before that role, he co-founded location-based social network Loopt, which was acquired in 2012.
Altman joined OpenAI's board in 2015 and assumed the chief executive role in 2019. His tenure has coincided with the organisation's shift towards large-scale commercial deployment of AI systems, including partnerships with Microsoft. In late 2023 he was briefly removed by the board before being reinstated within days, an episode that drew significant public and industry attention.
