As OpenAI gets ready for a potential and engages in a battle with Elon Musk’s xAI over , CEO Sam Altman has his hands full.
But these days, 40-year-old Altman is taking it easier—at least on weekends—concentrating on his family and the expansion of OpenAI.
Altman and his husband, Australian software engineer Oliver Mulherin, had a son in February 2025. After a year of being a parent, he says the experience is “significantly underhyped.”
“It has been by far my favorite thing in life,” Altman told . “And I don’t think I have anything profound or non-clichéd to say about it, except that I thought it would be great, and it’s much better than I anticipated.”
Fatherhood has brought many changes, including disrupting Altman’s well – disciplined daily routine. Previously, to boost his productivity, he focused on and made time for sleep, exercise, and nutrition, as he detailed in a 2018 . But now the days of lifting weights and meditating three times a week are over.
“Now it’s all gone to pieces,” he says. “I’ve just accepted that life will be chaotic for a few years.”
Altman has always been very outspoken about prioritizing family and friends, stating that neglecting loved ones to be more productive is “a very stupid trade – off.” Parenthood has only intensified that feeling in him.
“The standard that something has to meet for me to be willing to spend time on it is so high now that most other things have fallen by the wayside,” he said.
How Sam Altman creates work – life balance
During the pandemic, Altman bought a $15.7 million ranch in Napa, Calif., where he spends weekends with Mulherin and their son, going on hikes without cell phone service. The ranch grows wine grapes and raises cattle, even though Altman has been a vegetarian since childhood.
During the week, it’s back to work in San Francisco, where Altman lives in a $27 million home in Russian Hill. Being extremely famous in the heart of Silicon Valley adds a complex aspect to being a parent. When he’s at the park with his son, Altman gets stopped and pitched startup ideas, he said, attracting unwanted attention.
“I end up living in a strangely isolated world,” Altman says. “I fight against it every step of the way… I think the more you let the world create a bubble around you, the crazier you become.”
Fame has also begun to limit Altman’s relationship with his son. He used to write letters to his son about work challenges, he said, but stopped when he realized they could be used as evidence in a lawsuit. Pages of OpenAI President Greg Brockman’s personal diary became public as part of Elon Musk’s lawsuit against the company.
Altman often thinks about how different the world will be for his son compared to when he was growing up in St. Louis.
“He’s just going to grow up never knowing that there was a world, other than through studying history, where every computer wasn’t smarter than him,” he says. “People are very adaptable, so it won’t seem strange. It’ll be very different.” Altman and Mulherin are expecting another child later this year.
“A lot of people have said, ‘I’m very happy you’re having a kid, because I think you’ll make better decisions for humanity as a whole,’” Altman Bloomberg. “I really wanted to do it right before, and do my best. I still really want to, now.”
Altman says he’s not overly worried about how he’ll be remembered, though.
“If you’re dead and people remember you, you get no benefit from that,” he said. “Maybe they’ll hear about me, maybe they won’t, but I will have done something to improve other people’s lives, and I will have felt useful.”