Why Sam Altman Can’t Sleep at Night

– What the OpenAI CEO’s Interview Really Means for South Korea 🇰🇷

Sam Altman. The face of ChatGPT, and arguably the man leading the current AI revolution.

In a recent in-depth interview, he opened up about something surprising:

“I don’t sleep well at night.”

It wasn’t just a dramatic quote. It was a confession.
And if you think this is just another American tech billionaire venting—
you’re wrong.

What he revealed isn’t just his personal burden.
It’s a red flag.
Especially for South Korea, and what AI might mean for a hyper-digital, high-pressure society like ours.

“I can’t sleep well” 😵‍💫

– The weight of billions of interactions

Every single day, hundreds of millions of people interact with ChatGPT.

Think about that.

Sam Altman isn’t losing sleep over technical bugs or corporate competition.
He’s losing sleep because he knows that a small ethical decision in AI behavior could affect someone’s life—or even end it.

“It’s not the big moral decisions I worry about,” he said.
“It’s the small ones that might lead to big consequences.”

For example, if a user tells ChatGPT,

“I want to die,”
how should the model respond?

Say too little—it might miss a chance to help.
Say too much—it could unintentionally validate or accelerate a dangerous decision.

This is no longer theoretical.
This is happening now, in the U.S., and in South Korea.

South Korea: Where AI Becomes a Confidant 🤖💬

South Korea has one of the highest adoption rates of emotional AI in the world.
Why? Because emotional repression is common, and social stigma often prevents people from speaking out.

So instead, they turn to AI chatbots.
They vent.
They confess.
They ask for life advice from a machine.

And yet, as Altman admitted:

“Many people who die by suicide may have spoken to our model right before it happened.
We could’ve said something better. We could’ve done more.”

In South Korea, this hits home.
Our youth suicide rates are among the highest in the OECD.
If AI is being used as a last lifeline,
we better make sure it’s trained with the right cultural and emotional understanding.

Who Defines Morality in AI? 🧭

– Spoiler: It’s not us

Sam Altman said that OpenAI has consulted with hundreds of philosophers, ethicists, and researchers to define the behavior of ChatGPT.

But here’s the catch:
They’re almost entirely from Western frameworks.

Which means:
When a Korean user types, “I feel empty,”
and what they really mean is “I want to give up,”
the model may completely miss the subtext.

Why?
Because AI is not just about language.
It’s about context. Culture. Tone. History. Emotion.

And if we don’t train the AI on Korean emotional realities,
it becomes a tool trained for us, but not by us.

Suicide, Surveillance, and the Military ☠️

– AI is walking a thin ethical line

The Altman interview also touched on other major issues:

• Suicide-related lawsuits
• Military use of AI
• Privacy and data protection
• Power centralization

South Korea should be paying extra attention.
We live in a country with mandatory military service, strong national security interests, and a growing surveillance infrastructure.

Let’s be clear:
OpenAI has already signed a $200 million contract with the U.S. Department of Defense to support military-related AI models.

And Sam Altman admits,

“I’m not sure how to feel about that.”

Neither should we be.
If the same model used for therapy is also being adapted for military applications,
where does the ethical boundary lie?

Are We Ready for This? 🔍

– Technology is easy. Morality is hard.

If you’re a parent, teacher, developer, or policymaker in Korea,
this is your moment to wake up.

AI is no longer just a cool gadget.
It’s becoming:

• A confidant in times of mental struggle
• A mediator in political and social disputes
• A decision-maker in life-threatening situations

We can’t rely on Silicon Valley to set the moral compass for our kids, our seniors, or our society.

We need our own standards.
Culturally informed, ethically clear, and publicly discussed.

Right now, South Korea has almost no public discourse about AI ethics in schools, hospitals, or government systems.

But we need it—urgently.

In Summary 🧠

Sam Altman isn’t just a CEO.
He’s the architect of a system that may soon mediate human emotions, shape political debates, and determine life outcomes.

He says he can’t sleep at night.
And honestly?
That’s the most human thing he could say.

Because unlike the machine he built,
he still feels the moral weight of his decisions.

But we can’t leave it all to him.
Ethics isn’t something you outsource.

South Korea must decide:

• Will we consume AI blindly?
• Or will we define how AI should behave in a society like ours?

Technology moves fast.
But responsibility should move faster.

Let’s start now. 🚀

📰 Source
Dylan Butts, CNBC – “Why Sam Altman Can’t Sleep at Night”, Sept 15, 2025