First Chinese language biography of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman depicts different personalities

There have been a dozen biographies of Sam Altman, the chief executive of artificial intelligence (AI) pioneer OpenAI, since the company ignited the worldwide AI frenzy with ChatGPT in November 2022.

But only one has been penned by a Chinese writer. Kevin Zhou’s Sam Altman, published in November 2024, is a detailed portrait of the AI entrepreneur, from his early days as a Stanford University dropout to the launch of his first start-up, Loopt, through his late 20s as the head of start-up accelerator Y Combinator. It also covers recent developments including the power struggle at OpenAI.

Zhou, founder of tech media Pandaily, personally knew Altman a decade ago at Stanford and interviewed him in November 2023, days before he was temporarily ousted as OpenAI’s CEO.

After reading the book, Altman said he was impressed by its detail and would “love to participate” in a follow up when he retires, according to the book’s official introduction on Douban, a popular website for reviewing books and films.

Although most of the research was done from public records and media reports, the book does offer some exclusive content, such as Altman’s opinion on China and the country’s tech companies. He said he should have visited China more when he was teaching an entrepreneurship course as Y Combinator president. In 2018, Y Combinator, still under Altman’s leadership, formed its China unit.