Sam Altman says he likes to watch 5 to 10 minutes of short-form, TikTok-style videos before bed to unwind.
The OpenAI CEO made the comment this week in a conversation with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. Altman said he likes 'the ability to watch 5 or 10 minutes of short-form video before I go to bed as a way to unwind and relax a little bit.'
He has also described the format as more powerful than he first expected. Altman said he got into TikTok while OpenAI was developing Sora, its now-defunct video generation app, to better understand the short-form video experience. What began as a few minutes of scrolling before bed turned into an hour, and then three hours on one Saturday afternoon, according to his comments.
Altman later said he deleted TikTok because it was 'just too powerful.' He said, 'I think the iPhone is amazing and yet I did not feel like I had enough self-control to keep that app.'
As a father of a young son, Altman said he would not let his kids near the app and does not believe children can be expected to resist that dopamine pull. He said, 'I don’t think short form video is inherently evil, but I do think it’s dangerous.'
The concern is not abstract. In a Pew Research Center survey of TikTok users ages 13 to 17, 28% said they spend too much time on the app, 37% said it has negatively affected their sleep, and 29% said it has hurt their productivity.
Altman has also said fatherhood changed the way he thinks about the broader stakes of the technology he is helping build. He said becoming a parent made him think more deeply about the importance of getting AI right for humanity.
There is a simple business lesson in that admission. When a product is designed to capture attention, the market rewards engagement, but families pay in time, sleep and productivity. Capital rewards clear rules, and when the rules are weak, the most persuasive technology can become the hardest habit to break.
That is why Altman’s warning matters beyond one app. The same attention economy that sells convenience to adults can also train children to surrender self-control before they have it. The taxpayer does not benefit from a generation less productive, and free enterprise works best when it is matched with responsibility, not just leverage.
