Does Sam Altman have what it takes to lead OpenAI? It sounds like the company and its mission is bigger than his ability to lead it.
I'd argue he's the only one able to lead OpenAI, Anthropic already owns the piety narrative, so there is only space for one other "maximally ruthless" company.
Who would you suggest instead?
I mean the man raped his own sister, so probably the perfect person to be leading one of SV's largest AI companies!
As a legitimate, honest and profitable company, no. As a boom riding maniac, who will lie and cheat to ensure that investor continue to artificially pump up OpenAIs value, yes.
Without Altman I think that OpenAI would have folded by now, absorbed into a company like Microsoft (or Oracle). At this point however, who'd be insane enough to want to run a company that's to valuable to be sold, but to cash strapped to survived?