OpenAI’s Sam Altman denies sexual abuse allegations against sister, Ann Altman

OpenAI’s ChatGPT builder Sam Altman has denied alleged claims that he regularly sexually abused his sister, Ann Altman between 1997 and 2006. 

The artificial intelligence (AI) software creator’s claims followed the court case filed against him by his sister on 6 January in a US District Court in the Eastern District of Missouri, alleging that the abuse started when she was three and Mr Altman was 12.

Sam Altman, in a joint statement on X with his mother and two brothers, strongly denied the claims while noting how he cared for Ann while she was mentally challenged. 

“All of these claims are utterly untrue. Caring for a family member who faces mental health challenges is incredibly difficult,” part of the statement reads.

The OpenAI CEO stated that he provides her sister with monthly financial support and pays all her bills and rent. He added that he offered to buy her a house but she kept demanding more money from the Altman family. 

“Over the years, we’ve tried in many ways to support Annie and help her find stability. This situation causes immense pain to our entire family,” Mr Altman said. He noted that he had taken “professional advice” on how to be supportive without “enabling harmful behaviours“.

According to the court filing seen by the BBC, Ann Altman claimed that she sustained several bodily injuries, severe emotional distress, and depression where she incurred numerous medical bills because of medical and mental health treatment for her injuries.

She added that her brother, Sam Altman, “groomed and manipulated” her and performed sex acts on her over several years, including “rape, sexual assault, molestation, sodomy, and battery“.

The lawsuit added the last instance of the alleged abuse took place when Mr Altman was an adult and she was still a minor. Ms Altman has previously made similar allegations against her brother on social media platforms such as X.

However, victims and alleged victims of sexual offences in the UK have a right to lifelong anonymity. However, the UK law which creates this right does not provide application to people in the United States.

Billionaire Mr Altman, who married his partner Oliver Mulherin in 2024, is one of the technology world’s most high-profile figures.

In late 2022, his company, OpenAI launched the ChatGPT generative AI chatbot. It has become widely used globally for its ability to create computer code, emails, recipes, and many other forms of text image prompts.

Sam Altman’s OpenAI on the losing end

In a recent development, OpenAI expressed that the company is currently on the losing end of its $200 ChatGPT Pro monthly plan due to its overuse. It noted that subscribers are using it more than the tech firm expected.

CEO Sam Altman explained how he fixed the monthly plan price with the thought that it would fetch more returns. “I personally chose the price and thought we would make some money,” he said.

Despite raising around $20 billion since its founding, OpenAI has not been profitable. The company is also expected to accumulate losses of about $5 billion on revenue of $3.7 billion in 2024. 

Operating costs such as staffing, AI training infrastructure and office rent have been milking the company’s revenue while ChatGPT reportedly cost OpenAI an estimated $700,000 per day at some point. 

In its efforts to accumulate more capital, the tech giant is preparing to undergo a corporate restructuring in a bid to attract new investors. The tech giant projects that its revenue will reach $100 billion in 2029, which might see OpenAI increase the price of its various subscription ranges.

In December, OpenAI introduced an advanced-priced tier for its chatbot ChatGPT featuring unlimited access to its most powerful artificial intelligence designs where it announced that ChatGPT pro costs $200 (N150,000) a month.

Moreover, OpenAI said that the new advanced model was upgraded to perform human-like reasoning tasks and offers access to an expanded version of its current reasoning model — o1. In addition to the OpenAI software development, it also offered a ChatGPT Plus subscription for $20 (N15,000) a month, which is a tenth of the new option’s cost.

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