The New Yorker’s investigation into Sam Altman drops the same day OpenAI releases its AI policy vision for humanity

A New Yorker investigation based on interviews with more than 100 OpenAI insiders, a review of internal memos, and more than 12 interviews with Altman himself portrays the CEO as a people-pleaser who tells others what they want to hear, with former research head Dario Amodei writing in internal messages that “the problem with OpenAI is Sam himself.” On the same day, OpenAI released a sweeping industrial policy agenda recommending a four-day workweek, a public wealth fund to distribute AI profits to all citizens, and an automated labor tax to fund social programs, with OpenAI's chief global affairs officer confirming to the Wall Street Journal that the company is urgently concerned about souring public opinion on AI. A recent Harvard/MIT poll found that Americans' biggest concern is that powering AI will hurt their quality of life, and The New Yorker suggested OpenAI's policy rollout may be less about genuine reform and more about countering mounting public fears ahead of midterm elections that could bring stricter AI safety laws Altman has privately lobbied against.