Open AI CEO Sam Altman Might be a Doomsday Prepper

By:  Hellen Zaboulani

Sam Altman, the Chief Executive of Open AI who previously warned about the risk of Artificial Intelligence to humanity, was a self-admitted doomsday prepper.

As reported by the NY Post, Altman had bragged years ago about stashing gold, guns, and other survival goods in anticipation of doomsday.  In 2016, Altman had his profile published in theNew Yorker, in which he said that one of his hobbies, aside from collecting cars and flying planes, was prepping “for survival” in the event of a catastrophe or apocalypse  – such as a lethal virus or a rogue AI “that attacks us.”

“I try not to think about it too much,” Altman reportedly said at the time. “But I have guns, gold, potassium iodide, antibiotics, batteries, water, gas masks from the Israeli Defense Force, and a big patch of land in Big Sur I can fly to.”  This year, in an April interview with podcast “Honestly with Bari Weiss,” he had downplayed his past remarks, saying he wasn’t seriously prepping for doomsday.  “It was like a fun hobby, but there’s nothing else to do. None of this is going to help you if [artificial general intelligence] goes wrong, but it’s like, a fun hobby,” Altman said.

The 38-year-old entrepreneur, investor, and programmer, had his company, Open AI, roll out the widely popular ChatGPT. A Stanford University drop out, he now boasts an estimated net worth of about $500,000, per Celebrity Net Worth.  He had made early investments in companies including Airbnb, Pinterest, Stripe, and Reddit– briefly serving as CEO of the latter. Per Wikipedia, he has been named in Time Magazine’s100 most influential people in the world in 2023,  as one of the “Best Young Entrepreneurs in Technology” by Businessweek in 2008, and the top investor under 30 by Forbes magazine in 2015.

In March, Altman had publicly warned about the risks of AI saying that artificial intelligence poses threats to humanity’s survival on par with nuclear warfare and global pandemics.  In mid-May, he called on lawmakers to create safety standards for artificial intelligence, saying  AI “Can Go Quite Wrong”.  This month, in his testimony before a Senate panel, he said that his worst fear is that advanced AI will “cause significant harm to the world.”

Altman is not alone in his doomsday visions.   Numerous Silicon Valley gurus have warned of the risks of AI, including Google’s former CEO, billionaire Eric Schmidt, who warned AI is an “existential risk” to humanity which could result in “many, many, many, many people harmed or killed”.  What’s even more alarming than their words is their actions.  Per the Post, a growing number of the tech billionaires have been purchasing land in recent years to use as remote bunkers, if the need should arise.  Per the Post, Peter Thiel, co-founder of Open AI, PayPal and Palantir Technologies and Larry Page, the Google co-founder have both purchased land in New Zealand.

Critics of the doomsday warnings, however, say the cautionary notes are just a distraction.  “The real problem with tech bro existential panic at scale is it tends to make them ignore, or even exacerbate, the problems that are happening right now,” said Douglas Rushkoff, author of ‘Survival of the Richest: Escape Fantasies of the Tech Billionaires’.  “They’re focused on a kind of Terminator end-game nightmare, and for me, it’s a way of distracting themselves from the very real and present dangers they pose to us,” he added. Rushkoff also told the Post, that for tech execs like Altman, making public warnings and calling for guidelines is a way of securing a seat at the table where regulations will be made, and boosting themselves above rivals.  “It’s not the AI that’s going to set off a nuclear bomb in a fictional future. It’s the stuff they’re doing right now at this very moment,” said Rushkoff.