OpenAI’s Sam Altman Reveals He Was Hospitalized After Experimenting With a GLP-1 Drug

Sam Altman opened up about his experience using semaglutide, a GLP-1 drug sold under the names Wegovy and Ozempic, and the medicine didn’t work for him.

“I once ended up in a hospital for trying semaglutid,” the OpenAI creator, 41, said during an appearance on the Conversations With Tyler podcast that recently resurfaced on social media.

However, Altman didn’t go into detail about the symptoms that led to his hospitalization.

While Ozempic and Wegovy, along with Mounjaro (a similar GLP-1 called tirzepatide), is prescribed for patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes or those who struggle with obesity, many people use the drugs off-label for weight loss.

Altman made headlines earlier this year when he faced criticism regarding claims that his popular chatbot, ChatGPT, failed to flag alarming behavior from a troubled Canadian teen before a mass shooting that left eight dead and 25 injured.

“I am deeply sorry that we did not alert law enforcement to the account that was banned in June,” he wrote in his apology, per the New York Post. “While I know words can never be enough, I believe an apology is necessary to recognize the harm and irreversible loss your community has suffered.”

According to the National Enquirer, there have been multiple lawsuits accusing AI chatbots like ChatGPT of worsening users’ delusions and mental health crises, including one case involving 23-year-old Zane Shamblin, whose family alleged an AI chatbot encouraged him before his July 2025 suicide.