Why was OpenAI surprised by ChatGPT’s success? What does it really mean to “reason” in an AI system? And what’s next for agentic coding and multimodal assistants? OpenAI Head of ChatGPT Nick Turley and Chief Research Officer Mark Chen unpack it all in a conversation that pulls back the curtain on the making of OpenAI’s most iconic product.

00:00 – Intro: Meet Nick Turley and Mark Chen

00:40 – Origin of the name "ChatGPT"

03:50 – ChatGPT’s viral takeoff

07:00 – Internal debate before launch

9:40 – Evolution of OpenAI’s launch approach

11:00 – The sycophancy incident and RLHF

14:45 – Balancing usefulness vs. neutrality in model behavior

20:00 – Memory and the future of personalization

22:50 – ImageGen’s breakthrough moment

29:00– Cultural shifts in safety and the freedom to explore

33:10 – Code, Codex, and the rise of agentic programming

37:45 - Coding with taste

41:45 – Internal adoption of Codex

43:40 – Skills that matter: curiosity, agency, adaptability

46:45 – OpenAI’s “Do Things” culture

51:30 – Adapting to an AI future

55:15 – The opportunities ahead: healthcare, research

01:01:00 – Async workflows and the superassistant

01:05:40 – Favorite ChatGPT tips

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On the first episode of the OpenAI Podcast, Sam Altman joins host Andrew Mayne to talk about the future of AI: from GPT-5 and AGI to Project Stargate, new research workflows, and AI-powered parenting.

00:00Welcome to the OpenAI Podcast

01:00ChatGPT & parenthood

04:10AGI, superintelligence & scientific progress

07:10Operator, Deep Research & productivity

10:30GPT-5 & how we name models

13:40User privacy & NYT lawsuit

16:15Will ChatGPT ever show ads?

20:30Social media & user behavior

23:25Project Stargate & why compute matters

31:30Future progress & potential new AI devices

38:45Final thoughts

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.