The rapid rise and slow decline of Sam Altman
Marcus on AI | Gary Marcus | Substack • • business
Key Points:
- Sam Altman rose rapidly from obscurity to become a major figure in AI, gaining favor with politicians, tech leaders, and companies like Microsoft and Apple by 2023-2024.
- Despite early hype, Altman's leadership and OpenAI's technical and business achievements have faced growing skepticism, with critics highlighting overpromises, disappointing product releases like GPT-5, and questionable financing practices.
- OpenAI has struggled financially, never turning a profit, losing market share to competitors like Anthropic, and facing intense price competition from startups such as DeepSeek.
- Apple, initially partnering with OpenAI for generative AI in Siri, has shifted allegiance to Google, signaling a significant setback for OpenAI's business prospects.
