Sam Altman Says He Scrolled TikTok for Three Hours Before Deleting It

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, one of the most prominent figures in the artificial intelligence boom, says he relaxes before bed by scrolling short-form video on TikTok, a habit he describes as both enjoyable and, at times, beyond his own control.

Speaking in conversation with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, Altman said he likes the format itself. «I happen to like short-form video,» he said. «I happen to like the ability to watch 5 or 10 minutes of short-form video before I go to bed as a way to unwind and relax a little bit.»

His relationship with the app has not stayed at five or ten minutes. Altman, 41, has said he first started using TikTok while OpenAI was developing Sora, its video generation app, to understand the short-form experience. What began as a few minutes before sleep grew into an hour. Then, on a Saturday afternoon, he looked up after three hours of scrolling. He decided he needed to step away and deleted the app.

«I deleted TikTok because it was just too powerful,» Altman said on the Relentless podcast in July. «I think the iPhone is amazing and yet I did not feel like I had enough self-control to keep that app.»

That personal experience has shaped a cautious public position. Altman, a father of a young son, said he does not consider the technology appropriate for everyone, particularly the youngest generation. «I wouldn’t let my kids near that stuff, and I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect kids to be able to resist that dopamine thing or know that they even should,» he said. «I don’t think short form video is inherently evil, but I do think it’s dangerous.»

His concern tracks with what some teenage users report. A Pew Research Center survey released this year found that among TikTok users ages 13 to 17, 28% said they spend too much time on the app, 37% said it has negatively affected their sleep and 29% said it has hurt their productivity.

Altman’s own career has been built on anticipating how people will use new technology. He served as president of the startup incubator Y Combinator from 2014 to 2019 and now leads OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. He has said that becoming a parent through surrogacy early last year changed how he thinks about the stakes of the technology he is helping build, deepening his focus on getting AI right for humanity.

He is not the only business leader weighing how social media fits into work and personal life. Feng Ren, co-CEO and head of drug research and development at the AI drug discovery startup Insilico Medicine, said at Fortune’s Leaders Forum in Macau this month that he deliberately sets aside time to step away from daily chaos, often sitting on a sofa for 15 to 30 minutes with WeChat messages and news. He added that he favors scrolling in moderation and even recommends it more widely.

Others use the apps as a window into younger consumers. Virgin Group CEO Josh Bayliss has said he scrolls on platforms like TikTok not only for entertainment but to understand the audience his businesses are trying to reach. «The zeitgeist is not people in their 50s like me,» Bayliss told Fortune. «The zeitgeist is 20-something year olds who are shaping the culture that we have an obligation to serve.» He added, «You’ve got to have the volume turned up 24/7, honestly.»

For Altman, the fallback when screens become too much is a more analog habit: reading. «I love reading,» he said last week on the Titans and Disruptors of Industry podcast. «One of my hobbies is to read first-party contemporaneous accounts of previous technological revolutions.»

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Connor Quincy

Technology Reporter

Connor Quincy covers public affairs, politics, business, culture and daily news for Core Memo. The role focuses on verification, context, and clear explanations for readers.

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