Sam Altman says colleagues are glad he’s a dad now because they think raising a child will help him make ‘better decisions for humanity'

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says becoming a father earlier this year has reshaped his outlook on life and influenced how he thinks about the broader impact of artificial intelligence.

Altman and his husband, Australian software engineer Oliver Mulherin, welcomed their first child, a son, in February via surrogacy, just weeks after the two were married in Hawaii in January 2024.

In an interview with Bloomberg TV’s Emily Chang at OpenAI’s San Francisco headquarters in June, Altman reflected on the experience. “It is the best, most amazing thing ever, and it totally rewired all of my priorities,” he said. “In the first hour, I felt this neurochemical change—it happened so fast. I remember thinking, ‘I get to watch this happen. I’m being neurochemically hacked, and I’m fine with it. Everything is going to be different now.’”

Asked whether fatherhood has altered his approach to building advanced AI, Altman acknowledged that many people assume it will lead to more thoughtful decisions. “A lot of people have said, ‘I’m glad you’re having a kid, because you’ll make better choices for humanity,’” he said. “I really wanted to get it right before. I still do now.”

Altman’s leadership has been both praised and criticized. In November 2023, he was briefly removed by OpenAI’s board, which cited concerns about his transparency, communication, and safety processes. Former board member Helen Toner accused him of withholding and misrepresenting information. But after intense pushback from employees and investors, Altman was reinstated within a week, and a later review found his conduct did not justify removal.

Despite the controversy, Altman is widely credited with driving OpenAI’s transformation from a nonprofit research lab into a major player in the AI industry. Under his leadership, the company launched products like ChatGPT and secured a multibillion-dollar partnership with Microsoft.

His reflections on parenthood come as OpenAI scales up its ambitions, including the Trump-backed Stargate project, which Altman has described as “the biggest infrastructure project in history.”