Sam Altman is a well-known figure not only in Chicago but far beyond. A genius of Silicon Valley, he actively invests in various startups and co-founded the company that created the AI chatbot “ChatGPT.” Read here on chicagovski.com about how Altman achieved monumental success.
Childhood and Youth
Sam was born on April 22, 1985, in Chicago to a Jewish family and spent his childhood in St. Louis. He was one of four siblings, with two brothers and a sister. His father, Jerry, worked as a real estate broker in a large firm, and his mother, Connie, was a dermatologist.
Despite their busy schedules, his parents made an effort to be friends to their children, spending quality time together playing tennis, pool, and board games. They instilled in their children a love for mathematics, science, and confidence that they could achieve career success.
Sam’s life changed when his parents gifted him his first computer. From that moment, he dove into learning programming, and soon, Steve Jobs became his idol. In numerous interviews, Altman has mentioned that the founder of Apple Inc. was the only person who made him nervous when he went for an interview with him.
After finishing high school, Sam enrolled at Stanford University, studying computer science while working in an AI lab. In his spare time, he enjoyed playing poker. Soon after, he left school to focus on his first startup.
A Successful Career
While in university, Sam developed a mobile app called “Loopt,” which enabled location tracking on social media. Launched in 2005, Loopt attracted over $30 million in funding but struggled to gather enough users, leading to its sale for $43.4 million in 2012.
In 2011, Altman became a partner, and in 2014, the president of Y Combinator, a company investing in and developing startups. Sam held the position until 2019 and left the company entirely in 2020. During this period, he co-founded Tools For Humanity, which develops a global biometric system based on iris recognition.
In 2015, alongside Elon Musk, Ilya Sutskever, and other Silicon Valley innovators, Altman founded the research organization OpenAI to develop artificial intelligence. Their goal was to create a machine capable of functioning like the human brain, aiming to solve pressing issues and improve people’s lives.
At that time, their goals seemed like science fiction, yet the company grew, and four years later, Altman took the lead. Under his leadership, Microsoft made substantial investments in the firm, and in 2022, OpenAI launched ChatGPT, which became a sensation.
According to Celebrity Net Worth, his work in AI earned Altman a fortune estimated at $500 million. In the spring of 2023, Sam embarked on a world tour. Later that fall, he was dismissed from OpenAI, sparking investor dissatisfaction, who demanded his reinstatement. It was soon officially announced that Altman would return as the company’s CEO.
Personal Life
Altman is openly gay. For nine years, he was in a relationship with Loopt, Inc. founder Nick Sivo, but they eventually parted ways due to differing life perspectives. In 2024, Sam married Oliver Mulhern.
From all of the above, it’s clear that Sam Altman has built a brilliant career through determination and effort, making a name for himself worldwide and achieving millionaire status. His creations and those of his company benefit people on a large scale.