OpenAI’s Sam Altman says his highly disciplined daily routine has ‘fallen to crap’—and now unwinds on weekends at a ranch with no cell phone service

As OpenAI prepares for a potential fourth-quarter IPO and fights Elon Musk’s xAI over allegations of stealing trade secrets, CEO Sam Altman has his hands full. 

But these days, Altman, 40, is taking things more slowly—at least on the weekends—focusing on his family and scaling OpenAI. 

Altman and his husband, Australian software engineer Oliver Mulherin, welcomed a son in February 2025. A year into parenthood, he says the experience is “significantly underhyped.” 

“It has been my favorite thing ever in life by far,” Altman told Forbes. “And I don’t think I have anything deep or non-cliché to say about it, other than I thought it was going to be great, and it’s much better than I thought it was going to be.”

Fatherhood has come with many changes, including upending Altman’s disciplined daily routine. Before, to maximize his productivity, he focused on and made time for sleep, exercise, and nutrition, he detailed in a 2018 blog post. But now, gone are the days of lifting weights and meditating three times a week.

“Now it has all fallen ...