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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Defends AI Wrapper Startups, Citing Early Skepticism About His Own Company

End Of Miles

07 Apr 2025 — 2 min read

$Neural pathways transform criticism into innovation: prismatic AI startup evolution visualization with fractal information density$

"I think if I were 20 in Y Combinator right now and someone was calling my company a GPT wrapper, I'd be like 'Ah, I must be in a promising direction,'" declared OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, defending a new generation of AI startups facing widespread criticism.

End of Miles reports that Altman's comments come amid growing industry debate about the viability of startups building on foundational AI models, with critics dismissing many as mere "wrappers" lacking substantial technical innovation.

Familiar criticisms

The Silicon Valley executive drew direct parallels between current dismissals of AI startups and the skepticism OpenAI itself faced in its early days. "People used to say very similar things about OpenAI," Altman recalled. "They'd say 'you're just a little research lab and Google's going to crush you' or 'you're just putting this thin layer on' or 'Nvidia is going to get all the value.'"

"It sounds very cool and sophisticated to always say why things aren't going to work, and you will be right most of the time. But that is not how great companies get built or invested in." Sam Altman

Historical patterns of dismissal

The AI pioneer contextualized current criticisms within a broader historical pattern of dismissing innovative companies. "The whole 'oh your startup is just a wrapper' thing – people used to say that about other categories too. There was a time when people would say 'well, you're just a wrapper on AWS,'" he explained.

Altman emphasized that dismissing startups as mere wrappers misunderstands how innovation evolves. "The people building on AI are creating absolutely incredible new companies. Most of them will fail or not do that well, but some will find a really enduring business and generate a ton of value. That's always the case – that's just how the world works," the OpenAI leader asserted.

Value in unexpected places

The entrepreneur suggested that current criticisms reflect a fundamental misunderstanding of where value emerges in technological evolution. When asked about his advice for young founders facing such dismissals, Altman was unequivocal:

"The most important lesson you can learn as an entrepreneur or an investor is that sounding sophisticated by dismissing new ideas is not how great companies get built." Altman

While acknowledging that most startups inevitably fail, the tech executive maintained that the ecosystem currently developing around foundation models will produce companies generating significant value – a pattern he sees as consistent with previous technological transitions.

For Altman, the current wave of criticism directed at AI startups may actually signal their potential importance rather than their limitations. Far from discouraging young entrepreneurs from building on existing models, the OpenAI chief suggested that such dismissals might even indicate they're on a promising path.

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