Like millions of Americans, OpenAI’s Sam Altman unwinds from thinking about AI by scrolling on TikTok before bed: ‘I happen to like short-form video’

Sam Altman , the billionaire CEO of OpenAI, spends his days at the center of the AI revolution —but when it comes time to unwind, he’s just like millions of Americans who enjoy scrolling through TikTok before bed.

“I happen to like short-form video,” Altman said this week in conversation with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff .

“I happen to like the ability to watch 5 or 10 minutes of short-form video before I go to bed as a way to unwind and relax a little bit.” But Altman’s relationship with TikTok-style videos hasn’t always been so measured.

The 41-year-old has said that he first got into TikTok while OpenAI was developing Sora, its now-defunct video generation app , to better understand the short-form video experience.

What started as a few minutes of scrolling before bed soon turned into an hour.

Then, one Saturday afternoon, Altman found himself scrolling for three hours.

He eventually decided he had to temporarily step away from the app.

“I deleted TikTok because it was just too powerful,” Altman said during an episode of the Relentless podcast released in July.

“I think the iPhone is amazing and yet I did not feel like I had enough self-control to keep that app.” Altman wouldn’t let his kids near TikTok: ‘I do think it’s dangerous’ It may come as no surprise that Altman, who served as president of startup incubator Y Combinator between 2014 and 2019, would be curious about one of the tech industry’s most popular new formats.

But his own experience with TikTok has given him a more cautious view of just how powerful short-form video can be.

As a father of a young son, Altman said he doesn’t believe the technology is appropriate for everyone—particularly Gen Alpha.

“I wouldn’t let my kids near that stuff, and I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect kids to be able to resist that dopamine thing or know that they even should,” Altman said.

“I don’t think short form video is inherently evil, but I do think it’s dangerous.” His concerns are reflected in some of the experiences teenagers report having on TikTok.

In a survey released this year of TikTok users ages 13 to 17, 28% said they spend too much time on the app, while 37% said it has negatively affected their sleep and 29% said it has hurt their productivity, according to Pew Research Center .