Sam Altman’s Next High-Wire Act: Getting OpenAI to Make More Money

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Photo Illustration by Javier Palma; Source Photographs by Rod Lamkey Jr. for The New York Times; Karsten Moran for The New York Times; Getty

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Sam Altman’s Next High-Wire Act: Getting OpenAI to Make More Money

Mr. Altman, who has faced criticism over OpenAI’s direction, has culled company projects and is trying to be more disciplined with strategy.

Credit...

Photo Illustration by Javier Palma; Source Photographs by Rod Lamkey Jr. for The New York Times; Karsten Moran for The New York Times; Getty

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By

Mike Isaac

Reporting from San Francisco

April 24, 2026

Earlier this year, a group of OpenAI employees convened in a private chat to discuss the latest thing

Sam Altman

, OpenAI’s chief executive, had posted to social media. It was not the first time they had done so.

The chat, which two people said they jokingly referred to as “Making Sam’s Tweets Reality,” nodded to their boss’s proclivity for announcing OpenAI’s plans on social media, where employees often found out about his ideas at the same time as the rest of the world. It was where they discussed how to build the surprise products he posted about. At Mr. Altman’s behest, OpenAI spent years pursuing any and all artificial intelligence projects, buoyed by billions in investment and its reputation of having a multiyear technological head start.

Now things have changed, with stiffening competition from rivals like Anthropic, Google and even

Elon Musk’s SpaceX

. Mr. Altman has felt the heat — and has decided to shift strategy.

In the past few months, OpenAI has culled projects it sees as “side quests” — a term describing nonessential tasks in a role-playing game — including

its video generator, Sora

. It has instead doubled down on moneymaking endeavors like coding tools that can be sold to businesses. The goal, insiders said, is to be more disciplined in the face of intensifying competition as OpenAI prepares for a potentially blockbuster initial public offering as soon as this year.

The moves test the leadership of Mr. Altman, 41, who has faced rising criticism over OpenAI’s direction and his mutable management style.

“The same company trying to push the frontier of A.I. is also being asked to show financial discipline,” said Brad Gastwirth, the global head of research at Circular Technology, a market intelligence firm. “That’s not an easy balance.”

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