A glimpse into the “prepper” life of ousted OpenAI boss Sam Altman, complete with a treasure trove of weapons, Israeli gas masks and a remote hideout in Big Sur
SAM Altman recently made headlines after being ousted as CEO of OpenAI.
The entrepreneur is considered an expert in artificial intelligence, but also knows how to prepare for the end of the world.
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Altman has previously been described as a prepper and himself admitted that he is “preparing for survival.”
A prepper is someone who collects items and has a plan for what to do in the face of a catastrophic and potentially fatal event.
At an event with the founders of Shypmate in 2016, he revealed how prepared he was for a doomsday disaster The New Yorker.
When talking about AI’s potential to destroy the world, Altman said, “I try not to think about it too much.”
Adding: “But I have weapons, gold, potassium iodide, antibiotics, batteries, water, Israel Defense Forces gas masks and a large piece of land in Big Sur to fly to.”
Potassium iodide seems like the less obvious choice to have with you in case of an emergency.
However, the substance is said to be able to protect people from radioactive iodine after a nuclear disaster.
It’s only supposed to help to a certain extent, but preppers have been known to stock up on iodine tablets online.
Having a remote Californian base in Big Sur is also very useful for the multimillionaire.
A remote location might be safer in a nuclear war than a large city that is targeted.
Altman revealed in the same Shypmate interview that his friends discuss the end of the world.
He said, “My problem is that when my friends get drunk they talk about how the world is going to end.”
The 38-year-old suspected that a deadly virus could also mean the end of the world.
He said: “After a Dutch laboratory engineered the H5N1 bird flu virus to be highly contagious five years ago, the likelihood of a deadly synthetic virus being released in the next twenty years fell to non-zero.”
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