OpenAI CEO Sam Altman testifying before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Getty Images OpenAI founder Sam Altman gave his first interview since pulling the plug on Sora (and a $1 billion Disney deal) and said he could’ve made the failed video app even more sticky — but the billionaire tech mogul made the “very tough” call, he claims, to avoid addictive elements that have landed social media rivals like Meta and Google in legal hot water.
Embattled Altman sat down with tech journo Laurie Segall to tape the latest episode of her iHeartRadio podcast “Mostly Human,” out Thursday.
Segall gave Page Six Hollywood some sneak details of the Altman interview, telling us of that chat, “Later in the interview, Altman reveals that there was talk of integrating Sora into ChatGPT but the company made the decision not to because they felt it would produce incentives that could lead to addictive issues similar to social media companies. He called it a ‘very tough resourcing call.'”
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, speaks during the 2026 Infrastructure Summit in Washington, D.C. REUTERS The Altman comments arrive at the same time as a historic ruling that found Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta and YouTube parent Google liable for fueling teen social media addiction.
The tech giants are appealing, but the case could open the floodgates for Silicon Valley’s “Big Tobacco” moment, The Post has reported. Last week, a Los Angeles jury ordered Google and Meta to pay a combined $6 million in damages in one case, while the day before, a New Mexico jury ordered Meta to pay $375 million in penalties, which could unleash a legal firestorm.
Segall told us of the talk with the OpenAI boss, “I’ve interviewed Altman at many different points in his career, beginning 15 years ago, but this is by far the most high stakes seat he’s sat in. As a society, we are wondering if this technological innovation is going to be incredible for all of us, or incredible for some of us.”
The former “60 Minutes” and CNN correspondent began interviewing Altman, 40, as a Silicon Valley “garage founder.” That’s how Segall landed the exclusive talk at Altman’s California home. (The billionaire purchased a property in San Francisco’s Russian Hill in 2020 for $27 million, as part of a reported $83 million real estate buying spree, that includes two turn-of-the-century residences, an infinity pool and a huge ultra-modern addition, The San Francisco Standard has reported.)
Segall teased to us that in the interview Altman speaks publicly for the first time on Sora’s demise and his dealings with the Pentagon. Also on the table was the subject of parenting.
“In addition to Sora and the Pentagon headlines, we hear him respond to questions on whether the company’s business model is conducive to creating a healthy environment to accomplish his goal of democratizing access to AI,” the podcaster told us. “It was also interesting to hear him speak about a near-term future where automated AI researchers could compress a decade of scientific discovery into a single year, which would be transformative for society. But that idealism sits against a complex backdrop with fundamental human questions at stake. Perhaps most noteworthy, we debate in depth the complexities and opportunities of raising a child in a world that will be fundamentally transformed by the tech Altman has ushered in.”
Says Segall of Altman’s first post-Sora chat: “I wanted a different kind of interview with him… Altman weighs in on everything from war, and the company’s controversial deal with the Department of War, to childhood and what it will mean to raise a child in this era of innovation. My history covering him for so long allowed me to ask deeper, more intimate questions than you might typically see.”
The podcast is part of Segall’s own aim to build “a creator-led media and entertainment network.”
