Is the era of remote work over? OpenAI CEO believes so

ChatGPT-maker Sam Altman has expressed his dislike of a fully remote work model, calling it an experiment that has finished and failed. 
By: | May 8, 2023

A fully remote work model is not feasible due to the lack of technology being developed today. Additionally, employees who work in the office are more productive in creating new products than those working remotely, said OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

Believing that fully remote work as an experiment has run its course, he added, “I think definitely one of tech industry’s worst mistakes in a long time was that everybody (thought they) could go full remote forever, and startups didn’t need to be together.”

Explaining why startups should work onsite in the office, he said, “The more unclear and early the product is, the more in-person time the team needs to grind together,” reported India Today Tech.

Altman has often been outspoken about his passion for onsite work, having in the past tweeted, “Tech companies who rushed to full remote permanently made a big mistake, and the cracks are starting to show”,  in reply to an account asking if the talent at OpenAI was working onsite or remotely.

READ: Remote work may not benefit all employees, says IBM CEO

However, he acknowledged that some of the best talents at OpenAI were working remotely. “Some of our best people are remote, and we will continue to support it always, so please don’t let hating SF stop you from applying to OpenAI!” he continued in the same Twitter thread.