OpenAI's early goal was to build AGI through extensive research and paper writing, a theory that was later recognized as flawed.

Deciding to start OpenAI was a pivotal moment for us. We almost didn't do it because AGI seemed like a crazy idea, and there were many other successful startups to pursue. It took a core group of people to look each other in the eye and commit to the mission, despite the doubts.

The founding spirit of OpenAI is focused on solving the safety problem associated with AGI, emphasizing that the greatest minds cannot solve it in isolation; they need to engage with reality and see how technology plays out in practice.

The early days of YC Research were about experimenting with various ideas, including AI, even when it wasn't clear what would succeed.

I was drawn to OpenAI because of its mission to develop artificial general intelligence (AGI), which I believe is the most important technology we can build.

In a world where AI can perform many tasks, having great ideas and knowing how to direct AI is crucial for writers.

OpenAI's approach to research was more startup-like, focusing on opinions about necessary advancements rather than a centralized plan, which allowed for a balance between structured direction and exploratory freedom.

From the very beginning, we aimed to pursue Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) at a time when it was considered crazy to even mention it.

AI is a tool that can dramatically augment and amplify our creativity, and I realized I needed to learn more about it after my book on idea generation was published just before the rise of AI tools.