Ex-OpenAI researcher: Altman vetoed my 'do PhD and OpenAI both' compromise
RichardMCNgo · x · 2026-10-04
Former OpenAI researcher Richard Ngo recalls that his parents were skeptical when he dropped out of his PhD to join OpenAI, pitching a 'do both at once' compromise — which Sam Altman immediately vetoed. He quips that this isn't a scalable way to disregard parental advice, noting most of his best life decisions went against it.
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