--- description: Find out why Sam Altman is one of the 100 most influential people of 2023. title: Sam Altman: The 100 Most Influential People of 2023 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt273c4439e4ebd850/698a3bef47ca38bac83baacb/Sam-Altman-time-100-2023.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Apr 13, 2023 # Sam Altman by Brian Chesky  OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaks during a keynote address announcing ChatGPT integration for Bing at Microsoft in Redmond, Washington, on February 7, 2023\. - Microsoft's long-struggling Bing search engine will integrate the powerful capabilities of language-based artificial intelligence, CEO Satya Nadella said, declaring what he called a new era for online search. (Photo by Jason Redmond / AFP) (Photo by JASON REDMOND/AFP via Getty Images) OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaks during a keynote address announcing ChatGPT integration for Bing at Microsoft in Redmond, Washington, on February 7, 2023\. - Microsoft's long-struggling Bing search engine will integrate the powerful capabilities of language-based artificial intelligence, CEO Satya Nadella said, declaring what he called a new era for online search. (Photo by Jason Redmond / AFP) (Photo by JASON REDMOND/AFP via Getty Images)Jason Redmond—AFP/Getty Images When I met Sam Altman in 2008, what stood out to me most wasn’t just that he was a brilliant technologist—he was, at his core, a humanist. Sam foresaw that the exponential curve of technological progress would culminate in the most powerful tool ever created: [artificial general intelligence (AGI)](https://time.com/6255952/ai-impact-chatgpt-microsoft-google/ "undefined"). He saw a tool that could do immense good but, in the wrong hands, could be a destructive weapon. Sam co-founded [OpenAI](https://time.com/collection/time100-companies-2022/6159390/openai/ "undefined") to responsibly bring AGI to the world. Initially, he established OpenAI as a nonprofit. When he couldn’t raise enough money as a nonprofit, he structured the company as a capped-profit model, forgoing ownership. OpenAI went on to develop [ChatGPT](https://time.com/6252404/mira-murati-chatgpt-openai-interview/ "undefined"), a revolutionary tool, launched in November, that I used to edit this very piece. If anyone knows where this is going, it’s Sam. But Sam also knows that he doesn’t have all the answers. He often says, “What do you think? Maybe I’m wrong?” Thank God someone with so much power has so much humility. _Chesky is CEO and co-founder of Airbnb_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6270015/sam-altman/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6270015/sam-altman/"},"headline":"Sam Altman","datePublished":"2023-04-13T10:32:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-21T07:22:03.616Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6270015/sam-altman/","keywords":["TIME 100","franchise","sponsorshipblock","TIME100 2023","T100Pioneers2023"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt273c4439e4ebd850/698a3bef47ca38bac83baacb/Sam-Altman-time-100-2023.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt273c4439e4ebd850/698a3bef47ca38bac83baacb/Sam-Altman-time-100-2023.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6270015/sam-altman/","name":"Sam Altman"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME100 | The 100 Most Influential People of 2023","description":"See all the people on Time's 2023 Time 100 list","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/P6RIsapV/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2023-04-13T10:30:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/P6RIsapV.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6270015/sam-altman/","duration":"PT1M53S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6270015/sam-altman/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```