The many contradictions of Sam Altman

Call it the Burning Man theory of tech. Every so often, the hopes and dreams of a technological visionary are almost torched by those who surround them. In 1985, Mr Steve Jobs was fired from Apple, the company he fathered, and did not return for 11 years. In 2000, Mr Elon Musk’s co-founders ousted him as CEO of X.com, the firm that went on to become PayPal, a digital payments platform. In 2008, Mr Jack Dorsey’s fellow creators of Twitter ended his short reign as chief executive of the social media app. On Nov 17, Mr Sam Altman looked like he would become the Bay Area’s next burnt effigy,

ousted from OpenAI

, the artificial intelligence (AI) firm he co-founded in 2015, by a board that accused him of lacking candour. But on Nov 21, after four days in which he, his employees and OpenAI’s investors, such as Microsoft, wrangled feverishly for his reinstatement,

he was back in control of the firm

. “Wow, it even took Jesus three days,” one wag tweeted in the midst of the drama. Instead of Mr Altman, three of the four board members who gave him the boot are toast.

It is not the first time in his 38 years on earth that Mr Altman has been at the centre of such an imbroglio. He is a man of such supreme self-confidence that people tend to treat him as either genius or opportunist – the latter usually in private. Like Mr Jobs, he has a messianic ability to inspire people, even if he doesn’t have the iPhone creator’s God-like eye for design. Like Mr Musk, he has ironclad faith in his vision for the future, even if he lacks the Tesla boss’s legendary engineering skills. Like Mr Dorsey, he has shipped a product, ChatGPT, that has become a worldwide topic of conversation – and consternation.