News
Altman admits he deliberately got addicted to TikTok to understand Sora
OpenAI's CEO revealed on a podcast that he deliberately got himself addicted to TikTok to study the mechanisms the company wanted to replicate in its Sora app. He now cites that experience as an argument for designing products people are meant to leave, not stay glued to.
Contents
Sam Altman said on the "Relentless" podcast that before OpenAI built its video-generating social app Sora, he deliberately got himself addicted to TikTok to understand why the app captures users' attention so effectively. The side effect of the experiment turned out serious enough that OpenAI's CEO eventually deleted the app from his phone.
The experiment that got out of hand
Altman explained that the decision to install TikTok was not accidental. The team working on Sora wanted to understand from the inside why the rival app kept users glued to their screens for hours. So he decided to go through the process himself rather than rely solely on the product team's analysis.
I forced myself to get addicted to TikTok because I just wanted to learn - Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI
According to his account, use of the app started with ten minutes before bed. It quickly turned into hour-long sessions, until one Saturday Altman spent three hours straight on his phone. That was the moment he decided to delete the app.
At that moment I really enjoyed it, like a drug - Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI
Sora as a mirror of the problem
OpenAI launched Sora, a short-video generating social app, in early 2026, hoping to replicate TikTok's success using generative artificial intelligence. The app landed a high-profile partnership with Disney, but despite that backing, OpenAI shut it down after about six months of operation in March 2026.
The company attributed the decision mainly to the computational costs of generating video at mass scale, but Altman added a second thread on the podcast: Sora, like TikTok, turned out to be too attention-consuming to fit the direction in which OpenAI now wants to develop its products.
Lessons for future products
Altman tied the personal experience to the design philosophy behind the new hardware OpenAI is developing together with former Apple chief designer Jony Ive. The device is set to be unveiled later this year and, according to Altman's earlier statements, is meant to be "calmer" than a smartphone, without the flood of notifications he has compared to walking through Times Square.
His comments suggest OpenAI wants to deliberately avoid mechanisms designed to maximize time spent in an app, in favor of tools users engage with briefly, get their task done, and leave. This marks a clear break from the social media business model built on holding attention for as long as possible.
Why it matters for the AI industry
Altman's admission comes as the tech industry increasingly grapples with the question of whether chatbots and AI assistants can trigger addictions similar to social media. Altman himself has previously spoken publicly about his unease over how strong an emotional bond some users form with ChatGPT.
For Polish companies and digital product creators, this is a signal that one of the most influential players in the AI market is starting to officially distance itself from the "engagement at all costs" logic that has driven social platforms for the past decade. This could affect how investors and regulators evaluate new mass-market AI applications going forward.
The device from Ive and Altman, announced for later this year, will be the first practical test of that declaration. If OpenAI actually builds hardware designed for short, deliberate interactions instead of maximizing screen time, it will clearly set it apart from the smartphones and social apps it aims to compete with.
