OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Believes the Era of Remote Work is Over

According to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, one of the tech industry's biggest missteps was the assumption that everyone could work remotely on a permanent basis.

Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, has recently stated that the remote work "experiment" was a mistake and that "it's over."

As reported by Fortune, speaking at a session organized by fintech company Stripe, Altman expressed his belief that remote work models can create confusion and hinder the creation of new products compared to in-person work. He emphasized that while remote work has become more prevalent, companies still lack the necessary technology for it to be a viable option for all employees.

"I think definitely one of tech industry's worst mistakes in a long time was that everybody (thought they) could go full remote forever, and startups didn't need to be together. There was going to be no loss of creativity," he said. "I would say that the experiment on that is over, and the technology is not yet good enough that people can be full remote forever, particularly on startups."

Altman highlighted the significance of working in an office setting for startups by noting that when a product is in its early stages and there is still a lot of uncertainty, a team can benefit from spending more time together in person to collaborate and generate ideas.

"The more unclear and early the product is, the more in-person time the team needs to grind together," he stated.

This is not the first time when Altman has expressed his preference for working in a physical office environment. In a tweet posted earlier this year, he criticized tech companies that embraced permanent remote work policies, calling it "a big mistake" that is beginning to show its cracks.

However, Altman also acknowledged that OpenAI has some of its best talent working remotely and encouraged potential job applicants not to let their location deter them from applying.

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Comments 7

Anonymous user
I like sam. He has a great product. However, the real mistake is assuming because of his popularity everything he says is somehow a fact!..

Remote is useful. It depends on the business need.
319
Anonymous user
·a year ago·
Anonymous user
The recent remote work 'experiment' has actually proved that forcing everyone to travel to an office every single day is the mistake.

Daily commuting is just not sustainable. Road networks should be used for personal and essential use, not for shaking hands.

The money spent building monolithic office blocks and multilane highways could be better spent on improving digital communications and leisure spaces.
1
Anonymous user
·a year ago·
Doneva Denny
Maybe this fine lad Sam could say that remote work was a mistake, but he is working on a language model that learns from everyone and everything without any law obstruction and need for permission, putting all the future job opportunities in disarray while demotivating students to learn and develop a needed trait. Yes, only remove work was a big mistake for world wide business!
1
Doneva Denny
·a year ago·
Paes Danilo
Probably Sam never had to take a subway and a bus, commute for 2h to get in his office, work all day along and repeat the process all way back, create time for nowhere to keep him updated and still have time to spend with his family and friends.

Sorry Sam, we grind together when we have clear objectives and the company mission is clear for everyone working in there.
4
Paes Danilo
·a year ago·
Anonymous user
My current company has been fully remote for over 20 years, hopefully OpenAI will last as long.
6
Anonymous user
·a year ago·
Dev Soft
I can already tell OpenAI is going to go to shit like the plethora of companies whose CEOs made such dumbarse comments.
4
Dev Soft
·a year ago·
Iskandarov Bakshi
I'm a frontend developer with 6 years of experience, I switched to remote remote job 3 years ago, and believe it goes smooth as butter, we make calls on discord, chat and build products, and there is no problem whatsoever, maybe at the start it was slow, but you need to get used to it, you don't see traffic, you don't get tired after lunch, it's more productive.
9
Iskandarov Bakshi
·a year ago·

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Believes the Era of Remote Work is Over

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