VANITY FAIR

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Today, Vanity Fair’s New Establishment returns for the first time in nearly a decade. As in the original, portraits by Annie Leibovitz accompany profiles of newsmakers of the moment.

In the top spot: OpenAI cofounder and CEO Sam Altman.

Every day a new scientific breakthrough or existential threat seems to make the world more aware and more distrusting of an AI future that we’re told is rapidly approaching—whether we like it or not. And nobody is more recognized as the face of artificial intelligence—as a technology, an industry, and a civilizational shift—than Altman.

Long before he became a household name, Altman established a towering reputation in Silicon Valley: persuasive prodigy, visionary futurist, relentless CEO. But as OpenAI’s influence broke out of tech’s insular bubble, some of the very same traits that served him well in Northern California have become his greatest liabilities.

Altman is finding it hard to shake a public image as unknowable, at best, and perhaps delusional about what constitutes an acceptable future. As the public understanding of AI grows—along with the anxiety it induces—he has found himself the figurehead of humanity’s next chapter. Even Altman admits there’s a “non-zero” chance that it’s our last.

Vanity Fair global editorial director Mark Guiducci sat down with Altman for two interviews in San Francisco, the first on September 11 and again on October 2. In the intervening three weeks, the story about AI seemed to turn upside down about a half dozen times.

Over the course of these two conversations, topics discussed included Trump’s ballroom, Luca Guadagnino’s ‘Artificial,’ being characterized as a villain in society, his company, and the technology itself—extinction risk, alignment, regulation, and ChatGPT’s role in mental health and suicide.

It is clear that while Altman publicly asks to be regulated, he is also aware that it is unlikely he will be. “We’re going to make…I’m going to make many individual decisions that you’re clearly not going to like,” he said. “You can come try making them all; they’re not so easy.”

Watch the two-part interview: https://vanityfair.visitlink.me/w24lvn

Media: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HT3IWPNWUAABAhV.jpg?name=orig

views 28912 · likes 83 · reposts 21 · replies 29 (at fetch time)

Archived 2026-10-05 via fxtwitter (unofficial).

Today, Vanity Fair’s New Establishment returns for the first time in nearly a decade. As in the original, portraits by Annie Leibovitz accompany profiles of newsmakers of the moment.

In the top spot: OpenAI cofounder and CEO Sam Altman.

Every day a new scientific breakthrough or existential threat seems to make the world more aware and more distrusting of an AI future that we’re told is rapidly approaching—whether we like it or not. And nobody is more recognized as the face of artificial intelligence—as a technology, an industry, and a civilizational shift—than Altman.

Long before he became a household name, Altman established a towering reputation in Silicon Valley: persuasive prodigy, visionary futurist, relentless CEO. But as OpenAI’s influence broke out of tech’s insular bubble, some of the very same traits that served him well in Northern California have become his greatest liabilities.

Altman is finding it hard to shake a public image as unknowable, at best, and perhaps delusional about what constitutes an acceptable future. As the public understanding of AI grows—along with the anxiety it induces—he has found himself the figurehead of humanity’s next chapter. Even Altman admits there’s a “non-zero” chance that it’s our last.

Vanity Fair global editorial director Mark Guiducci sat down with Altman for two interviews in San Francisco, the first on September 11 and again on October 2. In the intervening three weeks, the story about AI seemed to turn upside down about a half dozen times.

Over the course of these two conversations, topics discussed included Trump’s ballroom, Luca Guadagnino’s ‘Artificial,’ being characterized as a villain in society, his company, and the technology itself—extinction risk, alignment, regulation, and ChatGPT’s role in mental health and suicide.

It is clear that while Altman publicly asks to be regulated, he is also aware that it is unlikely he will be. “We’re going to make…I’m going to make many individual decisions that you’re clearly not going to like,” he said. “You can come try making them all; they’re not so easy.”

Watch the two-part interview: https://vanityfair.visitlink.me/w24lvn

Media: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HT3IWPNWUAABAhV.jpg?name=orig

views 28912 · likes 83 · reposts 21 · replies 29 (at fetch time)

Archived 2026-10-05 via fxtwitter (unofficial).