Sam Altman
From hero to zero.
Sam Altman went from hero to zero in one Zoom call last week. As events in Gaza continue to crack open collective awareness of geopolitics, for Altman the recent eclipses + Mars’ rebirth have blown open stories about his past and brought his relationship with power into the spotlight. It’s likely been an uncomfortable few weeks for this Plutonic individual who would probably far prefer to keep things under a tight lid of control.
Fired by the board at OpenAI, Altman was not out of a job for long. He was promptly poached by Microsoft, only to be reinstated as CEO at OpenAI, all within 4 days. It was a tech industry shit-storm. While the internet popped off with speculation about why, who and how, the momentum allowed the allegations from his sister to also come to light.
THE CAZIMI FIRE
Being fired is a very martial act. Rendered useless to the sword of Mars, Altman was abruptly severed, cut-off and made redundant, for the second time in his career. It’s a harsh way to be disposed of after taking OpenAI from a fledgling start-up to a $90 billion venture.
All of this transpired on November 17th, 2023, as Mars was moving through the Sun in its potent Cazimi phase. This year it passed through the Sun at 25° with protection in the Scorpio chariot, hence he was fired, but reinstated 1.
What’s not to be underestimated about Altman’s firing occurring during this burning up of Mars is the power that has been unleashed, and the tenacity that has likely been stoked in him. This cyclic passage marks the end of one Mars cycle and the beginning of the next. It’s a time of strategic planning, re-stoking fires, and setting goals for the road ahead.
Altman’s firing-rehiring occurring at the beginning of this cycle suggests we’re going to watch this theme play out over the next 18 months. He may be back behind his desk, but it’s definitely not the end of the matter.
BURIED TENSION
Altman was born under a tense Mars-Saturn opposition on April 22, 1985, in Chicago, IL (time unknown). Mars was debilitated in Taurus, while Saturn, not technically undignified in Scorpio, was instead laden with difficulty being a fellow malefic in Mars’s nocturnal sign.
This harsh malefic configuration can play out in dualistic behaviour: sometimes expressing explosive anger, other times it’s seething, buried with lock and key. Sometimes the energy is expressed like a bull in a China shop, other times immobilised under a blanket of depression, or fear.
Combined, these two energies can create a deep volatility, suppressed rage, diverted sexual function and projecting one’s frustrations externally; seeing oneself as the recipient, not the protagonist. When harnessed, it’s like an engine running with grinding gears. Driven by frustration that propels one forward, the positive traits of this aspect can be displayed as self-discipline, tenacity and determination. How ruthless and cunning one is depends on other factors in the chart.
Altman has been described by colleagues as shrewd, dishonest and unconscionably absent while simultaneously his praises were sung from those of equal rank. The shrewdness his colleagues speak of is being passed off online as normal CEO behaviour in 2023. Nothing to see here, but why are we still normalising abuse of power, especially in those steering our ship?
The burning up of Mars at 25° Scorpio activated Altman’s Mars-Saturn aspect, lying across the Taurus-Scorpio axis at 27° Taurus and 26° Scorpio respectively, conjunct fixed star, Algol. This can’t have been a picnic for him because Mars didn’t just cut and sever ties between Altman and OpenAI during this time, the fire also spread to catch up with the allegations made by his sister when she was 4 and Sam, 13.
REFUSING TO DIE WITH YOUR SECRETS
It wasn’t easy to find details about this online prior to the last month. His sister, Annie Altman, claims (and has receipts) that she has been shadowbanned repeatedly (a tactic used in tech to minimise the traction in algorithms so very few people see the content, view count is reduced so it appears like no one is interested, and followers are removed without consent. She also claims her passwords and wifi were compromised for a continual 6 months). She has, however, remained active on X/Twitter, IG and her podcast despite the attempts to silence her.
This disturbing insight into the Altman family story includes Annie telling her mother of the abuse, only for her to side with Sam and later utilise a legal loophole which inhibits Annie from accessing her father’s 401(k) after he died. The insidious stories she shares can be read here.
“Annie states that the forms of abuse she's endured include sexual, physical, emotional, verbal, financial, technological (shadowbanning), pharmacological (forced Zoloft), and psychological abuse.” ~ pl5015, Lesswrong
Just like Picasso, whose art is still revered even though he beat the shit out of his wife, it’s the same disconnect offered Altman that separtes the complexity of one’s passion and creativity from who the person actually is. It’s intentional. Altman has so far not been public or transparent about the allegations. Unchecked, he still sits at the top of the food chain, while the only women on the OpenAI board have been removed with his return.
Considering we’ve seen this play out a million times before, the next scenes in the play book will go something like this.
The public in stern defence of their fearless leader will say:
It happened so long ago, why is she bringing it up now? Because in 2020 she started having flashbacks as a PTSD response which lasted for 18 months.
She only wants his money. She actually wants the money left to her by her late father.
She will be labelled crazy, unhinged, jealous of his success. Apparently women aren’t able to have legitimate memories when it comes to sexual violence.
Prove it! She reported it to her mother who defended Sam. She had suicidal ideation from an uncomfortably young age. This is not normal, it’s a medically justified survival response to sexual trauma.
Because she has an OnlyFans / porn hub account, this delegitimises her testimony. It doesn’t. This says more about your attitude to sex & understanding of sex work than it does about this situation. Look up survival sex work.
He’s gay. This has been flying around a lot and reeks of homophobia. It’s an irrelevant sub-plot. While he may be gay (who cares?!), it’s a well-worn, inaccurate association of gay people and paedophilia that seeks to embed homophobia further.
NOW YOU SEE ME. NOW YOU DON’T
Coupling Altman’s difficult Mars-Saturn energy, is a Sun-Pluto opposition.
On the day he was born, Pluto was reaching the peak of its cycle, passing through its achronychal phase, in opposition to the Sun. The difficulty of this passage is that the planet is not visible at dawn or dusk. It slips under the radar, moving undetected. This alignment speaks volumes about personal power, secrecy, privacy and hidden motivations, potentially rendering Altman quite vulnerable to inferiority and unconscious power struggles.
Pluto was for many years the furthest known celestial body from our Sun. Dwarf planets continue to be discovered, but Pluto has been in our collective psyche long enough now that we have tracked its movements and charted its effects to know its flavour.
Being so far out, it does not receive the light or warmth of the Sun like we do on Earth. It’s cold, dark and distant, mysterious, and relatively unknown. This physicality speaks to what Pluto represents astrologically, too; it brings people, events & situations that have great impact on us but are intangible, such as grief and rage, power dynamics, abuse and the all consuming nature of obsession. Pluto acts on the deeper layers of the psyche, moving us via our psychology with intensity and unconscious motivations. It says a lot about how one wields, or denies themselves power.
Pluto is a massive energy. Being born with it attached to his Sun suggests that the young, bright face of OpenAI that we see publicly is a contradictory mask fronting an intensely personal inner showdown. Pluto is an At all costs! Do or die! kinda vibe. It suggests there was either an intense life-death situation transpiring at Altman’s birth and/or that there were parental figures, or people in positions of power, such as via religion or education etc, who were covert, yet influential, in their dealings with young Sam.
Relationships with power come in early with this alignment, often via experiences of powerlessness. This can have a two-fold effect whereby one wishes to remain hidden, and simultaneously seek revenge by enacting life in a way that they will not be disempowered again. It can drive one’s life with ruthless determination; you don’t know what’s lurking in the dark, so gain as much control as possible so your armed when it reveals itself.
Having Pluto opposing the Sun doesn’t automatically render one a power hungry, sexual predator, nor predisposed to such events. What will be interesting to watch with Altman is how he navigates this energy publicly going forward after a humiliating severance, and what will be revealed about his use of power as time goes on.
IS EFFECTIVE ALTRUISM THE NEW TECH-RELIGION?
Following his firing, 703 of the 770 OpenAI staff threatened to leave if Altman wasn’t reinstated. While it appears on the surface that Altman has unparalleled loyalty in Silicon Valley, it may not be so in reality. To betray the master who pulls so many strings on your professional future, who determines how close you are to being involved in breakthrough technology, which impacts your financial security…you bet you’re going to show public support. It’s difficult to gauge how workers in the tech industry truly feel about Altman based on the amount of power he has, and wields.
With the high exposure of the FTX Sam Bankman-Fried case recently the issue of Effective Altruism in big tech has also come under the spotlight.
This philosophy, that SBF, Altman and a majority of workers in tech / AI subscribe to, leads with the tenet that what is for the greater good is worth sacrificing now. Put into practical terms, SBF, for example, saw it beneficial to steal oodles of money and funnel it into other EA startups, such as Anthropic, that were doing ‘great things for humanity and the planet’. His over inflated sense of self, with equally grand ideas and visions, created criminal and morally bankrupt actions that were justified by his own moral compass, which was set by EA principles. These had devastating results for innumerable people and businesses, and drove a wedge of distrust throughout the crypto world. In terms of current AI development, EA sees the 8 billion people on the planet now worthy of experimentation if it benefits the unborn future. To be clear: your life and mine are currently part of a coin-flipping gamble.
The current Mars cycle that initiated on November 17th will make its way through various stages over the coming two years. These themes will continue to expand, change shape and direction as Mars does. Altman isn’t the only one facing the fire of Mars in its nocturnal domicile. Diddy, Axl Rose, Jamie Foxx, Eric Adams are all facing recent allegations of sexual misconduct.
As 2023 comes to a close and the transits of 2024 & 2025 are incoming, Altman is going to be under great pressure to change and bend where he is rigid and uncompromising, and take accountability where he has granted himself too much freedom. How he uses his power going forward will depend on both, his personal choices and the culture that upholds him. Only time will tell how much of this new Mars cycle will be fuelled by a desire to retaliate and seek revenge, or if he is able to channel this energy for the collective good, using the setback as fuel for determination.
A planet is said to be protected when passing through the Sun when in its own domicile or exaltation. Mars in Scorpio is in its domicile.
Always informative and well written, thanks for sharing your work 💗