Sam Altman urges Gen Z workers to try something new

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said young people entering the workforce should look beyond traditional career paths and try new approaches to stand out in a world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence.

Speaking at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, Altman said AI-driven disruption in businesses may only be starting. He described the uncertainty as an opportunity for new workers and said people beginning their careers now are entering a period of major change.

Altman criticized MBA students who, he said, often pursue what was popular five years earlier instead of trying something new. He also said many tasks people do today will be handled by AI “better, cheaper, and faster,” and in completely different ways.

Altman founded the location-based social networking app Loopt in 2005, when he was 19, and later co-founded OpenAI with Elon Musk in 2015. He said companies built on technology OpenAI has released could become larger and, he hopes, more important than OpenAI.

In May 2026, Altman rejected claims that wider AI use would cause a “jobs apocalypse.” In July 2026, he said he did not expect society or work practices to change for quite some time.