Sam Altman named TIME’s 2023 CEO of the Year despite OpenAI turmoil

Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, has been named TIME’s CEO of the Year for 2023, marking a significant accolade in a year filled with challenges and triumphs for the tech visionary. 

Normally spending Thanksgiving with family in St Louis, Altman found himself navigating an existential struggle for control of OpenAI, a company often seen as holding the destiny of humanity in its hands.

Reflecting on the tumultuous year, Altman expressed, “This was a 10-out-of-10 crazy thing to live through. So I’m still just reeling from that.” The pivotal moment came exactly one year after the release of Chat-GPT, a chatbot that rapidly became the most adopted tech product globally.

Altman acknowledges the transformative impact of Chat-GPT and its successor, GPT-4, not only for OpenAI but for the entire world, with 2023 becoming the year when many began taking artificial intelligence seriously.

OpenAI, originally conceived as a nonprofit research lab committed to advancing AI for the benefit of humanity, underwent a remarkable transformation into an $80 billion entity. 

Altman, in turn, emerged as a highly influential executive, symbolising the face and visionary leader of a technological revolution. However, the rocket ship of success faced the threat of implosion, leading to Altman’s temporary ousting and subsequent re-hiring as CEO.