Sam Altman Is Lying. That's the Job.

Sam Altman Is Lying. That's the Job.

From They Might Be Self-Aware by Daniel Bishop, Hunter Powers

April 21, 2026 · 43 min · Episode 175

About this episode

The episode discusses the implications of Sam Altman's actions as a startup CEO and various ethical concerns surrounding AI.

Hunter Powers and Daniel Bishop break down Ronan Farrow's 912-page New Yorker profile of Sam Altman and argue that lying about the OpenAI roadmap isn't a defect of being a startup CEO — it is the job. Plus: Anthropic flies fifteen pastors to San Francisco to debate whether Claude has a soul, the Pentagon worries Claude's morals could contaminate warfighter supply chains, and OpenAI's rumored next model "Spud" is allegedly too expensive to turn on.

People in this episode

Hosts: Hunter Powers, Daniel Bishop

Topics covered

  • AI ethics
  • startup culture
  • media analysis
  • technology
  • morality in AI

Keywords

  • Sam Altman
  • OpenAI
  • Claude
  • AI ethics
  • startup CEO
  • Ronan Farrow
  • Anthropic
  • Pentagon
  • Spud

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: OpenAI, Anthropic, Pentagon

Products: Claude, Spud

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