Relentless
00:15:31 · Ty Morse, Sam Altman
[00:15:31] S0: One of the things that I've thought is the most interesting is have you ever seen one of those stats where it's like, I don't know, what percentage of CEOs are sociopaths and psychopaths? It's, like, very, very high. Talk about this. So I I wonder if capitalism is the first system that allowed these people that are, like, super kind of self serving to, like... Their incentives are realigned with societies and just create great products, then suddenly you help society, but you also win. [00:15:56] S1: I definitely know a lot of sociopathic CEOs, but I would say the best ones I know, I would not put in that category. There's a lot of very high ego CEOs, people with just, like, incredibly high opinions of themselves on a way that maybe, like, would have been just, like, purely annoying, but now because people can, like, you know, buy their shares, maybe you, like, tolerate their annoyance and antics a little more. So there's definitely some aligning thing there. I don't know. I think there are a lot of CEOs of very large companies that I would not put in the sociopath category at all. [00:16:25] S0: What do you think drives those people? [00:16:27] S1: I mean, it's different for different ones of them. Like, definitely seeing how good they can get at the game or, like, how much they can get better than themselves every year, I think, is a huge part of it. You know, it's, like, intellectually quite stimulating Mhmm. For all of the other problems. Like, you're kind of playing the most interesting strategic game, and that can be fun.
00:16:27 · Sam Altman, Ty Morse
[00:16:27] S1: I mean, it's different for different ones of them. Like, definitely seeing how good they can get at the game or, like, how much they can get better than themselves every year, I think, is a huge part of it. You know, it's, like, intellectually quite stimulating Mhmm. For all of the other problems. Like, you're kind of playing the most interesting strategic game, and that can be fun. [00:16:46] S0: If you had to think about the way that you operate today versus the way that you would have operated ten years ago if placed in the exact same position that you are currently, what are the biggest differences between those two people?
00:16:46 · Ty Morse, Sam Altman
[00:16:46] S0: If you had to think about the way that you operate today versus the way that you would have operated ten years ago if placed in the exact same position that you are currently, what are the biggest differences between those two people? [00:16:56] S1: Well, on the... To the previous question, the thing that drives me the most is, like, this is the most interesting, important thing I can imagine doing, and we are now, like, in the singularity. Like, this is the moment. For the last ten years ago, this was, like, a kind of far off dream at best. It seemed very improbable. And now we're, like, actually in the moment that we used to, like, talk about at the lunch table in a very not serious way. And so the thing that drives me is I've been waiting for this my whole life, and I think it's going to be incredible, hugely positive, awesome for the world. I'm excited to get to work on that. I also think some of the alternative visions painted by other companies are, like, quite terrifying. I'm gonna make sure that gets pushed against and is not what happens. But the main thing of what's different than ten years ago is, like, we're actually in it. Like, this is the real I think it is both true that it is all one crazy exponential and any one moment is not, like, the tipping point. And also, that we are somehow in another one of those decisive periods where the curve can go one way or another like it was when we started ten years ago. [00:18:10] S0: What do think the biggest impacts are on getting this part of the curve right?
00:18:10 · Ty Morse, Sam Altman
[00:18:10] S0: What do think the biggest impacts are on getting this part of the curve right? [00:18:14] S1: I think, like, there are still major AI alignment issues to solve and safety issues, and there are still major economic issues, future of jobs, all that kind of stuff. But I think the fight of the current moment is Are we going to head to a world of AI authoritarianism or liberty? Are we going to decide that because of the very real safety issues and economic issues that we want one single model to be the machine god or the company associated to do that? Or are we going to say like, you know what? It may be a little messy, but every time that humanity has traded off its liberty for safety, it's been a long term net loss. And so we are going to put this in the hands of people. We're going to empower them. We are going to let society express its ideas and use this technology in the way they want. Of course, according to some guardrails... With some guardrails, but, you know, with a lot of power and potential. I really care that we do it that way. [00:19:24] S0: When you were talking with Patrick Halston on stage, must have been, like, a couple of months ago, there was this fascinating thing that you said, which is basically, like, you will talk or text with three to 400 people a day internally. [00:19:36] S1: I text more people than anybody else I know. I don't think this is, like, a good thing. I think this is actually, like, a bad habit. Why? Because it takes up, like, most of my time, and I get, like, into... I have a very short attention span now. Interesting.
00:19:36 · Sam Altman, Ty Morse
[00:19:36] S1: I text more people than anybody else I know. I don't think this is, like, a good thing. I think this is actually, like, a bad habit. Why? Because it takes up, like, most of my time, and I get, like, into... I have a very short attention span now. Interesting. [00:19:50] S0: What does that enable you to do that, like, otherwise couldn't? Huge amount [00:19:53] S1: of context. I mean, I'm like a AI model that's not that smart, but just has, a huge amount, like, a short [00:19:57] S0: term context on, like, whatever's happening right now and then forget. That enable you to make decisions that other people wouldn't have? Like, what company decisions are they making? [00:20:05] S1: I don't know. I mean, it lets me make different decisions that other people would. [00:20:08] S0: What different decisions would you... Have you made in the last, like, twelve months that you wouldn't have made if you didn't have so much context? [00:20:14] S1: I don't know if I have, like, a specific one I can share publicly, but there's, like, a lot of things where, you know, because I I know about some random research breakthrough impending that is gonna, like, affect some customer or some supplier or whatever, I can make a slightly different decision in the moment. And if I hadn't known it that morning, I would have made a different decision. It would have been worse.
00:20:14 · Sam Altman, Ty Morse
[00:20:14] S1: I don't know if I have, like, a specific one I can share publicly, but there's, like, a lot of things where, you know, because I I know about some random research breakthrough impending that is gonna, like, affect some customer or some supplier or whatever, I can make a slightly different decision in the moment. And if I hadn't known it that morning, I would have made a different decision. It would have been worse. [00:20:32] S0: One of the things that I think you are the best at is kind of, like, long term thinking. And yet, it also seems like things are moving so quickly and the world is changing so fast that planning twenty years out and then, like, looking backwards, I don't even know if that makes sense. How do you think about this? How is... Like, is your time horizon shortening?