Sam Altman, co-founder and CEO of OpenAI, stated that he is against the possibility that his son may have as his best friend an artificial intelligence ‘bot’, while expressing reservations about the effect of technology on developing brains.
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09/11/2026
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O co-founder and CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman, stated in an interview with Vanity Fair magazine that he does not want his son to have a ‘bot’ of Artificial Intelligence as a friend, also expressing some reservations regarding the excessive use of technology during childhood.
Altman stated that, although he did not decide the appropriate age for his child to start using ChatGPT, he is not comfortable giving access to this technology while he is so young. Remember that Altman, along with her husband Oliver Mullerin, were parents in February 2025.
Moreover, Altman believes that younger children should have opportunities to spend time away from home and play in nature, enjoying the world without screens.
OpenAI leader believes that children should not be used to dealing with touch screens or short videos, pointing to the still unknown effects of these technologies on developing brains.
Remember that this is not the first time Altman has shown himself against the idea of a child having a ‘bot’ of Artificial Intelligence as a friend. In May 2025, Altman attended an audience before the U.S. Senate and asked if he would want his son’s best friend to be a ‘bot’ of Artificial Intelligence, the leader of OpenAI simply said ‘no’.
President of Anthropic is also against romantic AI partners
In addition to the leader of OpenAI, also Anthropic president Daniela Amodei is opposed to the idea of using Artificial Intelligence as a romantic partner, noting that it is a harmful way to use technology that can aggravate the distance between humans.
Account business Insider site daniela Amodei – who is also the sister of co-founder and CEO of Anthropic, Dario Amodei – gave an interview to Arianna Huffington, noting that having an Artificial Intelligence as a romantic partner could worsen the damage caused by social networks to human relations.
“ I think [using as a romantic partner] is a terrible use of Artificial Intelligence and that people should not do it”, said Daniela Amodei, noting that it is “one more step in the way of the disintermediation of humans moving away from each other”.
The president of Anthropic also left a few words of caution for those who use Claude's assistant as a psychologist or therapist, indicating that Artificial Intelligence cannot replace inherently human functions. “ Claude can never be your manager, your therapist or partner”, stating that these are positions “that will become more important”.
Despite these statements by Daniela Amodei, Anthropic has been making decisions aimed at driving Claude's users to anthropomorphize the assistant of Artificial Intelligence.