ChatGPT CEO Sam Altman is also a big fan of psychedelics.
The OpenAI co-founder recently appeared on the podcast “Life in Seven Songs” and shared a personal anecdote about his experience with psychedelics, calling it one of the most transformative experiences of his life. Altman said the experience was “absolutely incredible” and life-changing for him.
It may come as a surprise to you that this billionaire, who is described as extremely confident and charming, once considered himself a “very insecure and unhappy person.”
“If you had told me that a weekend in Mexico would make all the difference, I certainly wouldn’t have believed it,” Altman says, “and it did.”
While the CEO did not disclose which psychedelics he used, he said the experience changed him in many ways, one of the biggest being that he felt like he was a “calmer person,” which he said improved his quality of life and helped him deal with difficult challenges.
While the CEO has dabbled in psychedelics at Burning Man before, he said his “life-changing” experience was one he had while traveling with a guide. He said Burning Man’s version is less varied and more unusual.
This isn’t the first time the tech mogul has spoken publicly about psychedelic drugs.
In addition to the various health startups in which the billionaire has invested, Altman also serves as chairman of the board of directors for Journey Collab, a startup that aims to help people struggling with addiction through the development and application of clinical psychedelics for treatment. It is unclear whether he remains in that role, and Journey Collab did not immediately respond to a request for comment about his involvement with the company.
Altman posted about psychedelic drugs on X in 2022, eliciting a response from Elon Musk, a vocal supporter of psychedelic drugs, who said that “amphetamines have a negative effect on empathy” and that “psychedelic drugs do the opposite.”
Many stories of insanity begin with an amphetamine overdose and end with a hallucinogen shortage.
— Sam Altman (@sama) November 13, 2022
The trend of tech moguls experimenting with psychedelics is nothing new: Steve Jobs famously took LSD, and more recently, PayPal mafia member Peter Thiel funded a psychedelic therapy startup.
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A significant number of people in the United States have also tried hallucinogens, with a 2022 YouGov survey finding that 28% of American adults said they had used a hallucinogen at least once in their lifetime.
In 2020, Oregon became the first state in the U.S. to legalize psilocybin, the hallucinogen found in so-called magic mushrooms, for therapeutic purposes. Denver, Colorado, and Oakland, California, have decriminalized magic mushrooms in recent years.
Demand for luxury psychedelic retreats is also on the rise, as some professionals turn to psychedelics and other substances such as ketamine to enhance their work performance.
