OpenAI Founder Reveals His Writing System (Sam Altman Interview)

You know him as the CEO of OpenAI — but did you know that Sam Altman is an avid writer? As one of today’s most successful entrepreneurs, Sam champions the tremendous value of writing: how it clarifies your thinking, expands your ideas, and levels-up your life in every sense, both personally and professionally. Plus, he has a love for the creative. (Have you ever met someone who can recite Percy Bysshe Shelley poems from memory? Well, Sam can.) In this episode, we discuss how Sam uses ChatGPT in his daily life; how LLMs are changing the future of writing; what it means to be a novelist in the age of technology; and Sam’s best-learned writing lessons from Paul Graham. If you want to learn how the king of ChatGPT writes, this episode is for you. SPEAKER LINKS: Website: https://openai.com/ Blog: https://blog.samaltman.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/sama WRITE OF PASSAGE: Want to learn more about the final class for Write of Passage? https://writeofpassage.com/ PODCAST LINKS: Website: https://writeofpassage.com/how-i-write Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-write/id1700171470 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2DjMSboniFAeGA8v9NpoPv TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 Introduction 00:01:36 Will LLMs change how we write? 00:03:22 Human-computer interaction 00:08:39 How does Sam use ChatGPT? 00:11:26 How Sam shed his anxiety 00:13:00 How clear thinking leads to clear communication 00:17:24 Sam once dreamed of being a novelist 00:18:37 What Peter Thiel taught Sam about thinking 00:21:35 What Paul Graham taught Sam about writing 00:24:00 How much of Sam’s writing comes from conversation 00:26:02 The book Sam Altman wants to write 00:28:37 Sam’s Advice for Founders and Y-Combinator Applications 00:30:20 How Y-Combinator Influences OpenAI 00:30:43 What Excites Sam About Writing with ChatGPT 00:33:45 How Sam Decides What to Work On 00:35:55 How Sam chose to work on AGI 00:37:35 Writing strategy memos at OpenAI 00:38:38 The skill you need in the age of AI 00:39:53 Does writing education need to change? 00:41:34 Why isn’t ChatGPT a better storyteller? 00:44:20 Sam’s obsessive note-taking method 00:46:06 The Future of Writing in an AI World 00:47:12 Will AI put writers out of work? ABOUT THE HOST: I’m David Perell and I’m a writer, teacher, and podcaster. I believe writing online is one of the biggest opportunities in the world today. For the first time in human history, everybody can freely share their ideas with a global audience. I seek to help as many people publish their writing online as possible. How I Write is a podcast by Write of Passage // Produced by Adam Soccolich