Tim Carden Profile picture
Dec 28 15 tweets 5 min read Read on X
Sam Altman just gave his most revealing interview yet.

He exposed:

• Everything about his feud with Elon Musk
• The threat of Chinese AI dominance
• The countdown to superintelligence

8 mind-blowing insights from the interview I can't stop thinking about 🧵 Image
1. In 2015, Musk was OpenAI's biggest supporter, pledging $1B.

But here's the twist: Musk himself wanted OpenAI to be for-profit.

He even proposed merging it with Tesla.

The board's rejection sparked tech's biggest rivalry...
2. "Elon doesn't have any friends. Elon doesn't do peers," Altman revealed.

"He's clearly a bully who likes to get in fights. Right now it's me. It's been Bezos, Gates, Zuckerberg... lots of other people."

But there's more to this story:
3. ChatGPT processes over 1 billion queries per day.

But what shocked Altman most?

The rate at which AI capabilities are growing.

"If we came back in 18 months, the gap will feel even bigger than April 2023 to now."
4. Altman believes we're just "a few thousand days" away from superintelligence:

AI systems are smarter than all of humanity combined.

"The rate of scientific progress that's happening in the world could triple or even 10x."
5. The China threat is real.

When asked what happens if China wins the AI race, Altman's response was chilling:

"Whatever China wants."
6. OpenAI partnered with Anduril for military AI development.

Why?

"If the leading United States efforts do not help defend the United States and our allies against our adversaries, we're going to be in a
very bad place."
7, "This feels like the Manhattan Project or Apollo program of our time," Altman admits.

But here's the kicker:

He believes government control would make things worse.

"The decline in state capacity in this country is not a new observation but a mournful one."
8. Despite calling Trump racist and misogynistic, Altman donated $1M to his inaugural fund.

Why?

Because he believes developing AI is now "a patriotic duty."

The stakes have never been higher.
The battle between Musk and Altman reveals something crucial:

In the AI age, trust is everything.

And there's only one way to build trust at scale:

Through your personal brand.
Look at how this story spread:

Not through press releases or PR firms.

But through Altman sharing his perspective directly with millions.

This is the new playbook for influence:
Direct communication. Authentic storytelling. Building in public.

Consistent presence is today's distribution.

The leaders who master this win.

Those who don't become irrelevant.

But here's what most founders miss:
Founders: We’ll build your personal/company brand on 𝕏 (and beyond) without you lifting a finger.

To date, we've already helped 60+ founders get 2+ Billion combined views.

Interested in how we can do this for you? Book your free discovery call here: form.typeform.com/to/JWuXNkxQ?ut…
Thanks for reading! A bit about me:

2 years ago, I cofounded @ThoughtleadrX — a premium personal branding agency for world-class founders, executives, and investors looking to dominate socials.

If you enjoyed this, hit "follow" for more breakdowns! Image
We’re hiring!

We’re looking for top writers for our agency:

• Generalists
• Crypto/Web3

Note: English must be your 1st language, and you must be able to work in US time zones.

Want to work with our amazing portfolio of founders? Apply here: notion.so/Creative-Direc…

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Tim Carden

Tim Carden Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @timjcarden

Dec 29
You're looking at one of the youngest self-made billionaires ever.

While Nike, Adidas & Reebok spent millions on outdated marketing...

He built a $1.4 Billion empire using methods they wouldn't dream of.

The Gymshark blueprint to blowing up any business is unmissable🧵 Image
Picture this: Birmingham, 2012.

A 19-year-old college student is delivering pizzas for $8/hour, dreaming of something bigger.

Between deliveries, he's glued to YouTube, watching fitness videos and coding basic workout apps in his spare time.

That teenager?
Ben Francis. Ben lived two lives:

By day, he studied IT at university. At night, he delivered pizzas to make ends meet.

But he had bigger dreams. While everyone else was partying, Ben was in the gym. While they slept, he was coding workout apps.

Until he noticed something:
Read 22 tweets
Dec 27
This is the story of how BlackBerry lost $77B in market value.

They dismissed the iPhone as a "toy."

Then they made one catastrophic decision that destroyed their empire.

The shocking truth behind BlackBerry's fall from grace: 🧵 Image
Let's go back to 2007.

BlackBerry was unstoppable. They owned 50% of the US smartphone market and 20% globally.

Their subscriber base hit 8 million users, with over 1 million new subscribers
in a single quarter...
BlackBerry's success wasn't just about phones.

In fiscal 2007, they launched a series of innovations that changed everything:

• BlackBerry Pearl with multimedia capabilities
• BlackBerry 8800 with built-in GPS

But that was just the beginning...
Read 19 tweets
Dec 26
This tech feature has crippled your brain.

It uses the same dark psychology as slot machines.

And Big Tech makes billions by getting you addicted to it.

You're even falling prey to it right now...

Here's how "digital cocaine" hijacks your brain every 19 seconds: Image
In 2006, Aza Raskin created infinite scroll to improve user experience.

His goal was simple: eliminate the need to click "next page" when browsing.

But what started as a usability feature transformed into something far more sinister:
Tech companies discovered infinite scroll triggered the same psychological response as slot machines.

Each scroll delivers a hit of dopamine - our brain's reward chemical.

Just like pulling a slot machine lever, we never know what content we'll get next.

This variable reward system keeps us hooked...Image
Read 20 tweets
Dec 25
In 1931, Santa Claus wasn't red.

He was green/blue/yellow and had a different face every time.

Then Coca-Cola hired an artist who painted HIMSELF as Santa Claus...

And accidentally created Christmas as we know it today.

The untold story of advertising's greatest heist🧵 Image
Before Coca-Cola's intervention, Santa's image was inconsistent:

Sometimes he wore green.

Sometimes blue.

Sometimes he was tall and gaunt.

Other times, short and elflike.

There was no "standard Santa" that everyone recognized.

But that was about to change:
Coca-Cola hired Haddon Sundblom, a talented commercial artist.

His brief was simple: Create a Santa that would make people want to drink Coke in winter.

But Sundblom did more than that.

He created an icon that would shape Christmas for the next century:
Read 19 tweets
Dec 24
Sam Altman's conversation with Harry Stebbings last month blew my mind.

They discussed:

• How OpenAI compares to its competitors
• The future of non-technical founders
• Sam Altman's hiring philosophy

Here are 11 of his insights I can't stop thinking about🧵 Image
1. The "No-Code Revolution" is coming sooner than we think.

Sam predicts we'll first see tools that make coders more productive.

Then, the breakthrough: Software that lets anyone describe an entire company's worth of software and have it built automatically.

But he admits: "That's a ways away."
2. The future isn't about competing with AI.

It's about enhancing human capabilities.

Sam revealed that reasoning capabilities are OpenAI's "most important area of focus."

Why? Because reasoning will unlock "new science" and help "write a lot more very difficult code."
Read 17 tweets
Dec 23
In 2017, Uber was one of the world's most hated companies.

They lost 200,000 users in a week & were being destroyed by scandals.

Everyone thought they would die.

Until they hired one man who would transform Uber into a $150 billion empire...

Here's exactly how he did it🧵 Image
It started with a simple idea in 2009.

Two entrepreneurs wondered: what if you could request a ride with just your phone?

Simple. Elegant. Revolutionary.

No one could have predicted what happened next...
The idea caught fire.

First, San Francisco fell in love with the black cars summoned by an app. Then New York City couldn't resist.

Soon, Uber was spreading across continents.

By 2015, it had become the most valuable startup in the world: $51 billion.

But success came with a price...
Read 25 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(