Sam Altman on the future of AI | ReThinking with Adam Grant

Sam Altman is the CEO and cofounder of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. He and Adam discuss AI's advances in creativity and empathy, its ethical challenges, and the role of human oversight. Sam and Adam also discuss strategies for adapting to a changing world and their hopes for technology that enhances human progress while maintaining human values. Subscribe to the podcast at http://t.ted.com/4WkkJIo Available transcripts for ReThinking can be found at go.ted.com/RWAGscripts Follow TED! X: @TEDTalks Instagram: @ted Facebook: @ted LinkedIn: @ted-conferences TikTok: @tedtoks The TED Audio Collective is a collection of podcasts for the curious. The TED Audio Collective videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with our TED Talks Usage Policy (https://www.ted.com/about/our-organiz...). For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), please submit a Media Request at https://media-requests.ted.com. 00:00 Getting fired from OpenAI 03:54 What's going to happen to humans? 06:02 The AI revolution 12:55 Empathy and AI 17:16 Using chatbots to rethink your beliefs 22:43 Adapting to an AI-driven world 26:42 What are humans for? 28:02 Lightning round 29:46 Organizational resilience at OpenAI 31:35 Sam on self-belief 34:37 The ethics of AI 40:06 Why pursue AI?

Adam GranthostSam Altmanguest

Mar 21, 202544mWatch on YouTube ↗

EPISODE INFO

Released: March 21, 2025
Duration: 44m
Channel: Re:Thinking with Adam Grant
Watch on YouTube: ▶ Open ↗

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Sam Altman is the CEO and cofounder of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. He and Adam discuss AI's advances in creativity and empathy, its ethical challenges, and the role of human oversight. Sam and Adam also discuss strategies for adapting to a changing world and their hopes for technology that enhances human progress while maintaining human values. Subscribe to the podcast at http://t.ted.com/4WkkJIo Available transcripts for ReThinking can be found at go.ted.com/RWAGscripts Follow TED! X: @TEDTalks Instagram: @ted Facebook: @ted LinkedIn: @ted-conferences TikTok: @tedtoks The TED Audio Collective is a collection of podcasts for the curious. The TED Audio Collective videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with our TED Talks Usage Policy (https://www.ted.com/about/our-organiz...). For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), please submit a Media Request at https://media-requests.ted.com. 00:00 Getting fired from OpenAI 03:54 What's going to happen to humans? 06:02 The AI revolution 12:55 Empathy and AI 17:16 Using chatbots to rethink your beliefs 22:43 Adapting to an AI-driven world 26:42 What are humans for? 28:02 Lightning round 29:46 Organizational resilience at OpenAI 31:35 Sam on self-belief 34:37 The ethics of AI 40:06 Why pursue AI?

SPEAKERS

Adam Grant
host
Organizational psychologist and professor known for hosting the podcast ReThinking with Adam Grant.
Sam Altman
guest
Tech executive and CEO of OpenAI, focused on AI product development, deployment, and safety.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Re:Thinking with Adam Grant, featuring Adam Grant and Sam Altman, Sam Altman on the future of AI | ReThinking with Adam Grant explores sam Altman weighs AI’s rapid progress, human roles, and governance Altman describes the OpenAI firing episode as a short, surreal crisis that highlighted the importance of direct communication and revealed the depth of leadership strength across the executive team.

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