Sam Altman's Side Hustles Blur the Line Between OpenAI's Interests and His Own

When Sam Altman was briefly fired, then rehired as OpenAI CEO in 2023, the company's board of directors had fretted over what little they knew about his personal investments and whether they posed potential conflicts.

A newly formed board pledged to fix the problem, but it never went away. As OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, hurtles toward a planned initial public offering this year, valued at around $850 billion, the question persists—how to determine whether decisions serve the company's best interest or Altman's.

He recently asked OpenAI to lead a funding round for Helion after the nuclear-fusion startup fell behind on promises of a breakthrough energy source and began to run short on cash. Altman is one of Helion's largest investors, and a sizable chunk of his net worth is tied up in the company.