Sam Altman thinks working at Goldman Sachs ‘sounds unbelievably terrible now’ and admits he was ‘peer pressured’ into accepting an internship there

In a turn of events, Sam Altman, the founder of OpenAI, now looks back on his time at Goldman Sachs with a sense of regret, stating that the internship sounded "unbelievably terrible" at the time. The then-college sophomore confessed to being "peer pressured and tricked" into accepting the position, a decision he ultimately rejected and instead focused on his startup, Loopt.

Altman's perspective on career paths has since shifted, and he now advocates for creating one's own business rather than climbing the corporate ladder. In today's AI-driven world, the allure of prestigious banking internships has diminished, with Goldman's acceptance rate now below 1%. Altman believes that startups offer more freedom and autonomy compared to traditional corporate environments.

In fact, he noted that "you can make a whole startup, kind of by yourself in a room with a lot of AI tokens but not much else, and you don't need anyone to take you seriously to do that." Reflecting on the current state of OpenAI, Altman revealed that the company has begun recruiting talent from Wall Street, including junior investment bankers and seasoned banking professionals.

The roster of OpenAI's new hires now includes former Morgan Stanley managing director Alisha Lehr. The AI startup aims to train AI models to build financial models and automate tasks typically handled by junior bankers. With OpenAI projecting to expand to 8,000 employees by the end of the year, the tech giant is increasingly looking to finance professionals who are well-versed in AI tools like Codex.