In Greek mythology, Prometheus is a Titan who is sentenced to eternal torture by Zeus after stealing fire from Olympus and gifting it to humanity. He is a democratizing figure who breaks out a source of great power from its confines among the gods to give it to the everyday folk.

In Silicon Valley, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman views himself in a similar light.

In a new interview with Vanity Fair, Altman was asked to describe his personal mission and how he would like to be remembered in the history of AI.

“And what I would really like, if the history books ever write anything about me at all, it’d be great if they don’t, is just the work that OpenAI did really made sure that AI was a fundamental thing that every person got hugely empowered with,” Altman said, comparing the technology to fire or electricity. “It was not something that happened to them. It was something that people were given.”

When the interviewer concludes that the figure he is describing is essentially Prometheus, Altman admits, “closer to that than other things you could come up with for sure.”

The OpenAI chief says that many people in Silicon Valley “really believed only a small priesthood should get access to AI,” ultimately casting a group of Silicon Valley insiders as “benevolent dictators” who determine how the general public benefits from AI development.

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