Tech leader Sam Altman may or may not be running for statewide Political Office in California next year, depending on whichever rumors you choose to believe on any given day. But if he does run, the themes he articulates and his political approach will be unlike anything voters have ever seen. And since it involves a man running a tech business with a $80 billion portfolio, in a country being led today by a business leader with zero political experience, that’s a scenario not to be taken lightly.
Altman, the president of Y Combinator, a startup accelerator-turned-venture fund, appeared last Wednesday at the One City Forum in San Francisco, California.
Speaking without notes for approximately twenty minutes, the tech executive posed what he called the “fundamental question”: is technology going to be the cause of problems or the solution? “It can go either way,” said Altman.
Says that both government and tech have failed
According to the Y Combinator leader, the tech industry has failed to present a plan where the future looks better for everyone, not just those who happen to work in technology. “Government has failed in a lot of ways and technology has failed in a lot of ways,” he told the gathering.
On the government side of the equation, Altman believes that the political establishment’s inability to raise wages has led to a feeling of disenchantment among citizens.
“Politicians always say they’re going to get wages up and they haven’t,” said Altman, who attributed this as a key reason for the election of Donald Trump.
But he also had words of warning regarding the tech industry that could be a tough pill to swallow among rank-and-file voters. “In less than ten years, all repetitive human work that doesn’t require human emotional connection, such as a nurse or teacher, will be better done by a computer,” said Altman.
This scenario, where we surrender jobs to machines, has led Altman to form a non-profit called OpenAI, with the objective of channeling “friendly” artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity. His partner in the endeavor is Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX.
Altman talked with 100 Trump voters
The themes articulated by Altman in San Francisco last week stem in large part from a widely-read blog post he wrote last February which summarized what he learned from conversations with 100 people across the country who voted for President Trump.
As Altman explained in his remarks, he kept hearing a message of wasted potential. It was “I want to be a part of a productive society, but I can’t,” said Altman. “There’s change happening that’s leaving them behind.”
The rumors about Altman’s interest in running for office got kick started for real in May when former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown dropped a note in his weekly column for the San Francisco Chronicle that the tech entrepreneur was considering a run for California governor in 2018. According to Brown, Altman said that he wasn’t planning to run a traditional campaign.
At last Wednesday’s event, Altman did not appear eager to take questions and did not say if he was running or not.
Meanwhile, Y Combinator announced that it would be accepting 10,000 new companies later this year for its online startup program. If Altman runs for political office will he win? It could go either way.
