OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has described the technology industry’s embrace of full remote work as “one of the tech industry’s worst mistakes in a long time,” reigniting the debate over whether pandemic-era work arrangements should survive into the post-pandemic era.
Speaking at a Stripe conference in San Francisco, Altman argued that the belief that startups could operate fully remotely without sacrificing creativity was fundamentally misguided.
“I think definitely one of the tech industry’s worst mistakes in a long time was that everybody could go full remote forever, and startups didn’t need to be together in person and, you know, there was going to be no loss of creativity,” Altman told attendees.
“I would say that the experiment on that is over, and the technology is not yet good enough that people can be full remote forever, particularly on startups.”
The comments place Altman alongside a growing list of tech executives who have toughened their stance on remote work. Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Salesforce’s Marc Benioff, and former Lyft CEO David Risher have each cited productivity or creativity concerns in tightening return-to-office policies.
Altman’s critique is especially notable given that OpenAI itself has been at the center of the AI-driven transformations reshaping how knowledge workers operate. The company’s ChatGPT and related products are widely used by remote and hybrid teams, raising questions about whether the same tools that enable distributed work can also compensate for its drawbacks.
Research on remote work outcomes remains mixed. A Pew Research survey found that 56 percent of workers who can work from home said it helps them meet deadlines and get work done. But several studies have flagged declines in spontaneous collaboration and mentoring, particularly for early-career employees, when teams are fully distributed.
Altman acknowledged that improved technology may eventually solve the collaboration gap, but argued that present-day tools are not sufficient.
“The technology is not yet good enough,” he said.
OpenAI has since sealed a deal for significant San Francisco office space, signaling that its own workforce is expected to maintain a physical presence. The company has grown rapidly alongside the generative AI boom, with its workforce expanding even as it pushes its agents and enterprise products deeper into the workplace.
Sources: Quote of the day by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman (TechRadar, July 2026); OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says the remote work ‘experiment’ was a mistake (Yahoo Finance / Fortune, May 2023)