OpenAI CEO’s 2024 compensation revealed

According to a Bloomberg report, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman earned $113,674 in 2024, a 50% increase from $76,001 in 2023. At age 40, Altman also serves on OpenAI’s board. He has stated that this income is sufficient to cover his medical and other personal expenses and has emphasized that he holds no equity in OpenAI; his wealth primarily stems from external investments.

Newly released tax filings reveal that former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers was OpenAI’s highest-paid outside director, receiving an annual fee of $143,702 for approximately five hours of work per week. Notably, Summers resigned from OpenAI’s board this week following public scrutiny over his past ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. He has also temporarily stepped back from his teaching responsibilities at Harvard University.

While the disclosed compensation figures have drawn public attention, experts note that OpenAI executives’ actual total earnings may exceed these reported amounts, as the filings do not account for potential equity-based compensation. Additionally, OpenAI’s intricate corporate structure limits the transparency of its financial disclosures.

In its 2024 tax filing, OpenAI reported donating $7.5 million through its nonprofit arm, with the majority allocated to AI safety research. The organization also streamlined its mission statement: whereas the 2023 filing described its goal as “building general artificial intelligence (AGI) that can safely benefit humanity without being constrained by the need for financial returns,” the 2024 version simplifies this to “ensuring AGI benefits all of humanity.”