Source: Tencent Technology
Compiled by Golden Deer
Throughout Ultraman’s career, he has always understood the importance of being in the right place, at the right moment, and connected with the right group of people. Understanding the story of Ultraman’s rise is crucial because by understanding who he is and what he believes in, we may be able to better answer a pressing question: Should we trust this man to oversee the development of this technology?
Since he founded the location service Loopt at the age of 19, Altman has shown a strong desire for power. With his unique personal charm and firm determination, he has won the support of many technology leaders, including Paul Graham, Peter Thiel and Elon Musk. His ability to deal with problems and build interpersonal relationships has been praised, but this has also attracted some doubts and criticism. Although he is committed to benefiting all mankind in his vision of OpenAI, the way he manages the company has often become a focus of controversy.
Despite being a college dropout and often appearing in his trademark cargo shorts or open-fronted polo shirts, Altman has always been able to successfully attract investors and achieve his goals. He once bluntly stated on his personal blog: "It's amazing how you can bend the world to your will to a degree that most people don't even try."
Ultraman's unique skill: extremely good at using power
On a Wednesday in November 2023, I (Ellen Huet, a well-known technology journalist) was in a dimly lit restaurant in San Francisco. The place was crowded with people, holding a lively party after an artificial intelligence conference. People were talking in groups of three or five, and waiters were shuttling around, carrying exquisite small snacks. As I took a bite of a mushroom donut, a small whisper sounded in my ear: "Sam Altman is here."
I tried to find him in the dim light. I have had several conversations with Altman, who has been deeply involved in the entrepreneurial world for many years and is always friendly to reporters. Over time, he has become one of the most influential people in Silicon Valley. As the CEO of OpenAI, he released ChatGPT in late 2022, which made the company famous and its valuation soared to $86 billion, making it one of the most valuable startups in the world. In the past few months, Altman has frequently appeared in major news headlines and has become the focus of mainstream media reports. He has been dubbed the "King of ChatGPT", "Modern Oppenheimer" or "AI Overlord", as if he has become the spokesperson for the future of artificial intelligence and has met with big names around the world.
I glimpsed him in the crowd, standing in a corner of the restaurant, with a few guests already surrounding him, and I decided to say hello. He was wearing a sharp suit and tie, more formal than I remembered, but seemed shorter than I remembered. As we shook hands, he smiled, looked at the conference badge on my chest, and said, "Nice to meet you." I was surprised by his charisma and friendliness. He seemed to remember me and was aware of the work I was doing. So I took the opportunity to make a request to find a time to interview him. He replied, "Sure, that sounds like a great idea."
There were several guests waiting to speak to him, so I politely stepped aside. About ten minutes later, he too left the party. The next day, Altman continued his speaking tour, appearing at conferences as an AI statesman. At a high-profile international conference attended by world leaders, he gave a speech on AI: “I firmly believe that this (AI) will be one of the most transformative and beneficial technologies in human history. It is undoubtedly the most significant technological revolution we have ever experienced. I am passionate about it and cannot imagine a more exciting cause. It is a great honor and pleasure for me to be a part of it.” Altman is convinced of the coming change and knows that he plays a vital role in it.
However, less than 48 hours after I witnessed Altman attending the party, and 24 hours after he gave that important speech, a shocking news came-he was fired by the OpenAI board of directors. This news surprised everyone, even Microsoft, OpenAI's largest funder. According to the OpenAI board of directors, they found in their review that Altman "was not always candid" in his communications with the board. This news was like a bombshell, becoming the most sensational technology news in 2023, which was unexpected. When the news came out on Friday afternoon, my colleagues and I immediately realized that this weekend was destined to be unpeaceful. In the next few days, the news swept in like a hurricane. The OpenAI board of directors hinted that Altman had lied, then announced the appointment of a new CEO, and finally issued a public apology expressing regret for the decision to fire him.
As some pledged loyalty and employees rebelled, another undercurrent seemed to indicate that Altman might return to OpenAI. He was actively seeking support from employees and Microsoft, making it seem that he might take the helm again. Just five days after being fired, Altman miraculously became CEO again, a dramatic reversal that was jaw-dropping. However, for those who knew Altman, it did not seem to be a surprise.
Altman's mentor, famous investor Paul Graham, once told reporters that Altman is extremely good at using power, which has almost become his unique label. In Silicon Valley, we often talk about those technology giants, who are either programming geniuses or have an almost paranoid pursuit of product details and design. But Altman is different from them. His most powerful and most eye-catching ability is his skill in controlling power, which may have a profound impact on each of us.
In the summer of 2023, about five months before he was fired, a technology reporter asked Altman: "You have immeasurable power at this moment, why should we trust you?" He calmly replied: "You shouldn't trust me. If artificial intelligence technology is really as powerful as expected, then it will change everything. You shouldn't trust a company, let alone anyone." If he really believed this, then why did he fight to return to OpenAI and why did he want to regain control, as if he firmly believed that he was the only choice to lead the company forward because they were committed to rapidly advancing the development of artificial intelligence.
An excellent student in the eyes of the teacher, a domineering brother in the eyes of his sister
Altman's desire for power was evident from an early age. He spent a carefree childhood in St. Louis, the eldest of four siblings, his mother was a dermatologist, his father was a real estate developer.
He attended a prestigious private high school. One anecdote about him stands out: when some students tried to boycott a rally about sexual orientation, young Altman stood up in front of the entire school and bravely announced that he was gay. This was undoubtedly an extremely brave and avant-garde move for teenagers in the early 21st century. As we know, Altman was smart, unique, and always different. He was an excellent student, a talented writer, and an outstanding person.
Andy Abbott, one of Altman's English teachers and now the principal of his high school, stood out in a competitive school that valued grades and achievement. Abbott recalled that he was a natural leader, full of charm and curiosity. He was not a traditional student. He not only served as the editor of the yearbook, represented the school in Model United Nations activities, but also designed the school's website himself, which was particularly rare at the time before outsourcing website design was popular. More surprisingly, he even participated in water polo competitions and performed well.
Abbott said: "I clearly remember that Altman's confidence came from his talent. He seemed to be the most dazzling star in the room, not only intelligent but also charismatic. I hoped that he would not get involved in the technology industry, because he was so creative and had a great writing style. I dreamed that he would become a writer or an artist like that. After all, no one expected OpenAI to achieve such a huge success, but everyone knew that this guy surpassed ordinary people like us in most areas."
This illustrates a key characteristic of Altman's career: he is good at impressing people, especially those who can have a positive influence on him - the elderly, the powerful, and those who can help him. People who know him well reveal that he has an uncanny ability to perceive the distribution of power and to charm those who hold it. As a result, even though he is still a teenager, he behaves like a mature, confident person with more initiative. Adults admire this quality in him, and he also displays this trait in his treatment of his three younger siblings.
According to Ultraman's brother, when they were young, they often played a board game called "Samurai", and Ultraman was always the winner. He regarded himself as a leader and confidently declared: "I must win, I am in charge of everything." The brother told this story with a hint of humor, but their sister Annie, the only girl in the family, had a different view. She was alienated from Ultraman and other relatives, but her childhood memories left her with a deep impression of Ultraman's control. For her, this was not a joke, but a manifestation of dominance.
Anne said: "From my personal perspective, due to the nine-year age difference, he often tried to play the role of a third parent, like an older brother who was in control of everything in the family. For example, although our family was Jewish, we used to buy Christmas trees to celebrate until Altman strongly opposed it. My memory of Christmas trees is almost erased because when he was 13 years old, he decided that we, as a Jewish family, should stop celebrating Christmas." When their father died in 2018, Anne remembered Altman setting speaking times at the funeral for each younger sibling. However, a spokeswoman for OpenAI revealed that Altman's memory of these events was slightly different, but she declined to provide further details.
Dropping out of school to start a business and build a network of connections
When Altman graduated from high school, he started a pretty typical path for the tech industry, attending Stanford for computer science, starting a startup, and dropping out to focus on entrepreneurship, but he made a very important decision, he applied to Y Combinator. This is a startup accelerator, basically a boot camp for startups, where entrepreneurs submit applications and learn how to try to build a company in three months. During this time, entrepreneurs need to present to investors and try to raise venture capital. Altman was actually one of the first founders of YC. This was still 2005, so YC was completely unknown at the time, it was just a group of young people meeting up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and writing code, but YC would eventually become an extremely powerful network, and now it is basically the number one elite program for leading startups, and it's very difficult to get into.
Altman joined YC at age 19 and immediately impressed YC founder Paul Graham. Graham later wrote: "For about 3 minutes, I remember thinking: This must have been what Bill Gates was like when he was 19." The startup Altman founded at the time was called Loopt. When people first got excited about GPS on their phones, it used location data to connect people with their friends and local businesses, a bit like a mix of Yelp and Foursquare. Altman introduced it at the developer conference: "Loopt's goal is to connect people on the move, after all, that's the main reason you have a phone. We show you where people are, what they're doing, and what cool places are around."
Altman started the company in 2005, and the iPhone didn't exist yet, so Loopt was trying to do this for flip phones, which was a bit difficult. In the early days, Altman's company was in a desperate situation, and they really needed to get a deal with a mobile operator. They learned that Boost Mobile, owned by Sprint, was looking to add location capabilities and needed a partner, but they were about to sign with other companies. So Altman flew to Boost headquarters in Southern California. He just showed up outside the office of Boost executive Will and asked for 10 minutes. Will recalled: "I remember when I got the call from Altman, he explained who he was and what Loopt was. Someone at Sprint told him to contact us."
He added: "At that time, we were going to sign another startup that was bigger than Loopt in a day or two. Altman asked to visit that day, which was very unusual, but given the time, we were at the last minute, we were about to sign this contract, he was here, and our parent company Sprint recommended him, it was at least worth a meeting to discuss. Altman and two other Loopt members came to the office, we sat in the conference room, we shared what we wanted to do, Altman started to introduce Loopt, I remember he was 19 years old at the time, probably wearing casual shorts, sitting on a chair with his legs crossed, and started to take control of the situation." Altman eventually convinced Will that Boost Mobile changed its original cooperation plan at the last minute and chose Loopt, which was not originally optimistic.
Will is still impressed by Altman. He said: "Visually, he looks very young, but if you close your eyes and just listen to his words, his in-depth understanding of the project, excellent communication skills and confidence in controlling the overall situation are the best I have seen in the technology industry for many years. This is really amazing. It's not just his appearance that is extraordinary, but also his extraordinary calmness and control." Altman's perseverance paid off. He knew the importance of this deal and took action. Later, Altman said when talking about this that he learned a valuable lesson: to persevere in pursuing goals. It was this persistence that allowed him to successfully sign a cooperation agreement with Loopt.
YC's fellow founders were surprised that Altman had accomplished such a feat, as Loopt's business model was shaky and its product was unimpressive. However, Altman's unique strength began to emerge: he was an incredible negotiator. The YC founders were impressed by Altman's talents: "He was so impressive that he somehow convinced the phone companies to provide service to his startup, even though his company didn't have a product yet. I don't know how he did it, but Altman's most striking quality at the time was his ambition. Most of us had that ambition, but he was much better at closing deals." Over the next few years, Loopt grew and Altman demoed the product at the 2008 Apple Developer Conference.
I've heard and read many interviews with Altman, and it's impressive how enthusiastic and optimistic he is, using words like "super" and "excited," sometimes "super excited." He describes things as always so lighthearted, important, and exciting. However, he wasn't "super excited" about how Loopt turned out. A few years later, Loopt faded into obscurity, and Altman sold the company for a modest sum. He reportedly walked away with $5 million. For most people, this might be a happy ending, but from a Silicon Valley perspective, Loopt was seen as a failure to some extent.
But it didn't matter, because Ultraman had already won the favor of the bosses at that time. One of them is billionaire investor and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel. Thiel is one of the most influential gay people in Silicon Valley, which created a special bond between him and Altman. When Ultraman left Loopt, Teal gave him a considerable sum of money to invest. Their relationship was very close, something that was noticed by Ultraman's peers, as Till was known for being pessimistic and nihilistic, while Ultraman projected a public image of sincerity and optimism.
At the same time, Altman's relationship with YC's Paul Graham was deepening, and this close relationship brought tangible benefits to Altman. When Graham had the opportunity to invest in the startup payment company Stripe, he invited Altman to participate. Altman later said that from a certain perspective, this was his most successful angel investment to date, and he was able to get this opportunity entirely thanks to the personal network he had established.
With money, connections and influence, he became the "band conductor"
Graham is widely acclaimed for his series of intelligent articles on entrepreneurship, which condense his unique insights into entrepreneurship. He has repeatedly praised Ultraman and suggested that young entrepreneurs learn from him. One comment Graham made about Ultraman that particularly stood out: "Even if he were dropped on an island full of cannibals, he would be the king of the island when he returned five years later." When I first heard this, I took it as a high compliment to Ultraman, but now that I think about it carefully, it may contain a deeper meaning.
By 2012, YC had become an influential investment institution, and its headquarters moved from Cambridge to Silicon Valley, becoming the cradle of many successful Internet companies, including Airbnb, Dropbox and Stripe. During this period, Altman seemed to begin to imitate Graham's style and gradually transformed into a mentor in the field of entrepreneurship. He guided young founders at YC like Graham, and began to write those mysterious and often puzzling entrepreneurial advice, such as "The most successful founders are not just focused on building a company, but are committed to creating a nearly religious belief" and "A little-known secret is that you can shape the world to your will, but surprisingly many people have never even tried it."
In a blog post titled "How to Succeed," Altman shared with founders: "You should have an overconfidence that borders on overconfidence. The most successful people I know almost reach the point of delusion." This is not unfamiliar to those who are familiar with Altman. One of the friends told me that Altman always exudes absolute confidence. He gives people the impression of believing in himself 100%, without the fear or uncertainty that most of us would have. Meanwhile, Will, a former Boost Mobile executive, has a similar view, believing that Altman is very confident but not conceited. This confidence comes from his calmness and comfort in both intelligence and interpersonal relationships.
Over the years, Graham helped carefully craft Altman’s image, turning him into a demigod figure in the startup world, and in 2014 he decided to promote him across the board. Graham’s decision to step down as YC president and name Altman as his successor drew widespread attention in Silicon Valley. At just 28, Altman, with the support of Thiel and Graham, took over the reins of YC. Their close working relationship with Altman gave him access to money, connections, influence, and more. In essence, they handed some power directly to Altman, which gave him greater aspirations and ambitions, allowing him to maintain extremely high expectations and pursuits even in the face of seemingly unwise projects like Loopt.
Graham explained that he chose Altman as YC's successor because "YC has grown into a large organization, and I am not good at managing such a large organization, but Altman is very good at it." At that time, there was no solid evidence that Altman was capable of managing a large organization, but since he took over YC, he has not only made the company much larger than before, but also provided financial support to more startups and successfully expanded its business overseas. Altman's leadership at YC was undoubtedly an era of expansion.
Entrepreneur John Coogan observed that Altman had an excellent ability to switch ideas and listen attentively, which he considered to be almost extraordinary. Some even described him as "Michael Jordan of listening." Many people described how focused he was when listening, looking you in the eye with an almost unsettling intensity. Later, as the helmsman of YC, Altman may have been more of a behind-the-scenes promoter, relying on the rich dealmaking skills he had accumulated during his time at Loopt, coupled with his larger network and influence, so that once he encountered a problem, he could quickly solve it with just one phone call.
"Early in my entrepreneurial career, I was in a very difficult negotiation. I sent Altman an email with a try-it-out mentality, but he called me back immediately and in just five minutes, he completely solved my dilemma. This became one of the best deals in my career and left a deep impression on me. I witnessed Altman solve a $100 million problem in just a 15-minute call, which was really amazing. I think Altman just thinks about problems in a human way. He understands everyone's needs-this person wants X, that person wants Y, and then he thinks about how to cleverly connect the two."
YC has grown under Altman's leadership, but his ambitions go far beyond that. After becoming president, he took on a series of special projects, one of which was nuclear fusion research, aimed at encouraging more people to start businesses in this field. He expanded the scope of YC to include startups that are technically uncertain. Before this, YC mainly focused on the Internet software field. In addition, he also established a research department within YC and assigned researchers to explore various cutting-edge projects, such as universal basic income, that is, whether an individual works or not, they can receive a fixed income.
Under Altman's promotion, YC conducted a study to provide unconditional financial assistance to families in Oakland. This kind of action is exactly what Altman is good at. He often has an idea in his mind that something should exist, and then he will gather manpower and funds to encourage others to practice it. As he said in his blog, he is like a conductor of a symphony orchestra. He does not play an instrument himself, but can lead the entire orchestra to play a harmonious movement.
Does Musk have ulterior motives for paying attention to AI, or is he jealous of his super-rich friends?
In 2015, Altman had another opportunity to show his talent. He found a crucial topic - artificial intelligence, and planned to gather relevant talents and resources through a dinner to jointly promote the development of this field. This dinner was destined to change everything. There is a legend circulating in Silicon Valley that in 2015, Elon Musk was deeply worried about the current state of artificial intelligence, and he frequently expressed his concerns.
At the time, Google was a dominant player in the field of artificial intelligence, with deep pockets and many top researchers. Google Brain and its acquired DeepMind lab were conducting exciting AI research, working to create more fluent and self-learning AI systems. Google's early lead made Musk uneasy, as he worried that AI might become too powerful, especially when AI agents began to improve themselves. This concern made Musk suspicious of those in charge of this field.
Musk once admitted that he had a deep friendship with Larry Page, and the two often had long talks at the latter's home late at night. He constantly emphasized the potential dangers of artificial intelligence, but Page seemed nonchalant about it. When Musk mentioned the end of this friendship, his tone seemed relaxed, but this anecdote highlights his wisdom and foresight. At that time, Google, especially after the acquisition of DeepMind, gathered two-thirds of the world's artificial intelligence talents and had huge computing resources and funds. However, the people who controlled all this seemed indifferent to the safety issues of artificial intelligence, which undoubtedly posed a serious hidden danger.
Musk further elaborated: "The final crack came when Page called me a racist just because I prefer human consciousness to machine consciousness. I guess, to some extent, I do." At the time, many experts scoffed at the idea that artificial intelligence was a threat to human existence, thinking it was simply a fantasy. After all, artificial intelligence can't even distinguish between pictures of Chihuahuas and blueberry muffins. However, for Musk, it was an imminent threat.
In a conversation with biographer Walter Isaacson at a conference, Musk sounded serious, even panicked. He stressed: "I think most people don't realize how fast machine intelligence is developing. It's far beyond people's imagination, and even in Silicon Valley, few people can really understand this. If there is a superintelligence, especially when it has the ability to recursively improve itself and its utility function is harmful to humans, the consequences will be disastrous. Imagine that it may just be to delete spam, but it concludes that eliminating humans is the best option, so why do we still keep the source of these spam?"
However, the audience at the time scoffed at Musk's words, thinking his concerns were too ridiculous. Musk felt that he had to take action to weaken Google's advantage in the field of artificial intelligence, but there may be deeper motives behind this. Technology journalist Ashley Vance mentioned in Musk's biography: "Musk in 2013 was different from what we see today. At that time, although he was doing well, Tesla and SpaceX were getting better, but his net worth was probably only a few billion dollars, far from the richest man in the world."
Musk’s circle of friends at the time included many of the world’s richest people, including Google co-founders Page and Sergey Brin. Technology journalist Ashley Vance revealed in his biography of Musk: “I have interviewed Musk many times, and when I delved into his inner world, I strongly felt that he was watching his friends around him. They live a privileged life, own a huge software empire and a growing artificial intelligence empire. I firmly believe that Musk’s deep concern for artificial intelligence is partly due to his envy and even jealousy of his friends’ success. He has witnessed the brilliant achievements made by Google and his friends, and he himself seems to have not yet reached that height, but he has never publicly admitted this.”
The ideal is full of hope, but the reality is a power struggle
Therefore, artificial intelligence has always been a focus of Musk. In 2015, he attended a dinner at the Rosewood Hotel, a luxurious venue on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, the heart of Silicon Valley, adjacent to the largest venture capital firms in Silicon Valley. The dinner brought together about ten prominent figures, four of whom were particularly important - Musk, Altman, Ilya Sutskever, who was then a top artificial intelligence researcher at Google, and Greg Brockman, who was a key figure at Stripe and had grown a team of five into a multi-billion dollar business.
During the heated discussion at the dinner, they delved into the threat of AI being misused and the disastrous consequences that could result. They also carefully analyzed the conditions needed to build a project to compete with Google. They believed they had all the elements for success: Sutzkeffer's AI expertise, Brockman's operational experience, Musk's financial support, and Altman's coordination skills. At that dinner, Musk solemnly pledged to invest $1 billion in the project and proposed to name it OpenAI.
Their original vision was that OpenAI would serve as a research lab dedicated to sharing its findings publicly rather than keeping them secret for personal gain. It would operate as a non-profit, not pursuing corporate profits, but focusing on developing safe AI that would benefit humanity. While this idea sounded great in theory, these non-profit and open source principles quickly became complicated in reality, and a power struggle broke out between OpenAI's co-founders.
After the founding of OpenAI, Altman's interpersonal relationships began to become strained. A group of early employees disagreed with him and other management on the safe development of artificial intelligence, and eventually left and founded the competitor Anthropic. Musk also personally intervened after falling out with Altman, suing OpenAI and Altman, accusing them of deviating from the company's founding principles and accusing Altman of enriching himself, but later withdrew the lawsuit. At the same time, Musk also founded his own artificial intelligence company xAI.
Even Graham, who had always praised Altman and had been optimistic about him since he was a teenager, had a rift with him. After the founding of OpenAI, Altman continued to serve as president of YC, but his attention was distracted, which caused dissatisfaction among the YC leadership. In 2019, Graham flew all the way from the UK to California, USA, to confront Altman face to face. Graham later recalled that YC needed a leader who could devote himself wholeheartedly. As a result, Altman eventually resigned as president of YC.
From OpenAI's founding mission, it is not difficult to see Altman's lofty ambitions: he is committed to ensuring that the artificial intelligence developed by the company can benefit all mankind. However, for a brief moment last November, his drive seemed to be beyond his control. OpenAI's board members made a difficult decision: in order to protect humanity, Altman had to leave temporarily. But surprisingly, he returned to the company five days later and helped replace some of the board members.
Clearly, Ultraman has once again come out on top by consolidating his power. Today, Ultraman is moving full steam ahead towards his next grand goal: making artificial intelligence surpass human performance in a variety of tasks. He firmly believes that this vision will become a reality "in the fairly near future."
