The first same-sex marriage in the Web3+AI founders' circle: Sam Altman tied the knot with a male engineer

On January 10, 2024, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI and former president of Y Combinator, and his partner, Australian-born software engineer Oliver Mulherin (nicknamed Ollie), held a low-key and heartwarming wedding in Hawaii.

The wedding, which took place near Altman’s lavish estate in Hawaii, was limited to family and friends, and the exposed images of the scene showed that they created an intimate yet elegant atmosphere.

The wedding protagonists, Sam Altman and Oliver Mulherin, dressed simply and cohesively at the wedding, both wore white shirts, light beige pants, and white sneakers, symbolizing their pure and unwavering love. The intimate atmosphere of the wedding ceremony was very intimate, with only a few close family and friends in attendance, and it was reported that no more than 15 people were in attendance, including Altman’s brother Jack Altman, who is also the founder and former CEO of Lattice, and was the officiant of the wedding.

Being able to “marry” Sam Altman, who is calling for wind and rain in the AI world, Oliver Mulherin naturally has a great background

Equally striking is Oliver Mulherin’s background, who has largely stayed out of the public eye and prefers a low-key lifestyle. Like Altman, he is also very interested in artificial intelligence, and he can be considered an AI practitioner, and on June 22 last year, the two attended a White House dinner together to welcome Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the United States, where technology leaders such as the CEOs of Apple, Google and Microsoft were also invited as guests.

Born in Melbourne, Australia in 1993, Oliver Mulherin studied at the John Monash Science School in Australia from 2011 to 2013 before graduating with a Bachelor of Computer Science from the University of Melbourne from 2014 to 2016. His career includes working as a software development intern engineer at Vital-Sim in Calgary, Canada around 2015, as a software developer at the IOTA Foundation in Melbourne, Australia from September 2017 to April 2018 and as a co-founder of PROPL, and from April 2019 to May 2020 at SPARK Neuro and Broadwing in New York. From August 2020 to November 2022, Oli worked as a software engineer at Meta AI’s California headquarters. As of now, Ollie continues to work as a software engineer in the San Francisco Bay Area. His interest in artificial intelligence coincides with Altman’s, with media reports that the two have been dating since 2019.

The couple shared their wedding photos via Instagram, and despite the fact that their accounts were set to private, their happy moments received a lot of attention and blessings. In the post, Ollie wrote: "Married to my best friend and the love of my life. The tech community was quick to respond, and there was a jubilation. Among the hundreds of congratulators were socialites like Lauren Sanchez, the fiancée of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, tech entrepreneurs like Zen Matoshi, Alexandr Wang, Shervin Pishe, and Adrian Aoun, as well as celebrities from tech social media.

Sam Altman and Oliver Mulherin’s wedding was not only an important moment in their personal lives, but also a showcase for diversity and inclusion in the tech world, perhaps reminiscent of Apple’s CEO Tim Cook being gay.

Sam Altman’s career and love are both fruitful: Worldcoin has made more obvious progress in countries such as Argentina

When discussing Sam Altman’s latest developments, in addition to OpenAI, we have to mention Worldcoin, which he co-founded. Recently, Worldcoin has made significant progress in Argentina, not only setting a national single-day record of nearly 16K Orb verifications, but also achieving an important milestone: Argentina has surpassed 500,000 World ID verifications.

This achievement marks the success of Worldcoin’s technology and the worldcoin team’s relentless pursuit of innovation and technological frontiers. More than 1% of the total Argentine population has verified their World ID, a figure similar to that of Chile (1.5%), Spain (0.8%), and Portugal (2.5%), showing the widespread acceptance and adoption of Worldcoin worldwide.

Currently, nearly 3 million people around the world have verified their World ID on Orb, with more than 500,000 of those verifications taking place in Argentina. This is not only a huge leap forward for digital identity verification in Argentina, but also an important achievement for Worldcoin in the field of global digital identity technology. Other countries that stand out in terms of the number of World ID verifications include the United States, Spain, Germany and Singapore, which began operations in December last year.

The launch of World ID 2.0 has taken this project to a new level. Its integrations with multiple platforms, such as Mercado Libre and Reddit, showcase Worldcoin’s leadership in the global digital identity verification space. These integrations not only improve the user’s convenience, but also enhance the security and reliability of the platform.

Through these innovations and developments, Worldcoin is providing digital identity verification services to millions of people around the world while protecting their privacy. It’s all thanks to the vision and leadership of the Worldcoin team, including co-founder Sam Altman, who, through the Worldcoin project, is changing the way we understand and use digital identity.

World ID 2.0 has been launched and is highly integrated with apps like Reddit, Telegram, Shopify, and Mercado Libre

Worldcoin’s recent launch of World ID 2.0 marks a major step forward for the project in the field of digital identity verification. The core highlight of this release is the integration with mainstream apps such as Reddit, Telegram, Shopify, and Mercado Libre, which not only improves Worldcoin’s market adaptability, but also enhances its usefulness for user authentication. Especially on the key issue of distinguishing real users from bots, World ID 2.0 shows its technical advantages.

The market response to the launch of World ID 2.0 has been overwhelming. According to Scopescan’s data analysis, a large number of WLDToken were withdrawn from centralized exchanges after the release of this version, showing a high level of interest and trust among investors in Worldcoin’s new strategy. At the same time, the market value of WLD has also seen a significant Fluctuation, rising from $2.3 to $4.69 at one point, which may be rise due to the market’s initial recognition of Worldcoin’s potential and value in the field of digital identity verification.

Alex Blania, CEO of Worldcoin, likened the release of World ID 2.0 to a major event when “Apple released a new version of iOS”. This metaphor not only highlights the important technological advancements of World ID 2.0, but also foreshadows its potential impact on the entire digital identity verification landscape. Worldcoin’s core philosophy revolves around the dual impact of AI technology on the future economy: on the one hand, AI is expected to create huge wealth, and on the other hand, it could lead to the loss of a large number of jobs. Against this backdrop, Worldcoin proposes two key solutions: to build an efficient human identity verification system that ensures that people can prove that they are real humans, and secondly, to provide everyone with a universal basic income (UBI) in response to AI-induced economic changes.

Worldcoin is distinguished by its reliance on advanced biometrics. By scanning the iris of the user’s eyes using a specialized device called “Orb”, Worldcoin generates the World ID as the core protocol for its authentication. This approach ensures that only one pupil-based account can be registered per person. More than 4.8 million people have received a World ID.

One of the distinguishing features of World ID 2.0 is its integration with major platforms. It has been integrated with apps such as Reddit, Telegram, Shopify, Mercado Libre, and Minecraft, providing a wider range of use cases. For example, Reddit moderators can grant special permissions to users who use World IDs to reduce spam, the World ID app in Minecraft can help reduce bot activity, and Shopify merchants can use World IDs to ensure that each user only gets one discount.

In addition, the Worldcoin team is building an exclusive Shopify store for World ID users and has developed a developer platform that allows third parties to build new applications on top of it. To support the developer community, the Worldcoin Foundation announced a $5 million community grant program called “Wave 0” to encourage developers to build technology and fairer systems on the Worldcoin platform.

World ID 2.0 introduces three different levels of authentication: World ID Device, World ID Orb, and World ID Orb+, to meet different needs, from everyday needs to high security levels. Tiago, Director of Product at Worldcoin, pointed out that in World ID 2.0, users can more easily manage their World IDs, including retrieving lost IDs, updating expired IDs, and even canceling IDs from their phones that they no longer need. These improvements not only improve the technical performance of World ID, but also enhance the user experience.

Congratulations to Sam Altman: I look forward to him making more innovations for the AI+Web3 industry after solving major life events

With the wedding of Sam Altman and Oliver Mulherin coming to an end, the possibilities for the couple’s future are endless. Their union is not only a symbol of personal happiness, but also a reflection of the tech world’s deep understanding of diversity and inclusion. Altman’s personal and professional lives converge in this moment, demonstrating how a tech leader can continue to drive innovation and growth in the industry while pursuing personal happiness.

In terms of career, Sam Altman’s return to OpenAI is not only an affirmation of his personal ability, but also an important decision for the future direction of the company. His leadership will continue to lead OpenAI’s exploration in the field of AI, pushing the boundaries of technology, while also focusing on team collaboration and innovation. In addition, his role in the Worldcoin project demonstrates his deep understanding of technology and social responsibility, and how to translate these ideas into actual products and services.

Sam Altman’s wedding and professional accomplishments together paint a multifaceted portrait of a man who finds happiness in his personal life while constantly striving for excellence and innovation in his professional world. His story inspires many people to pursue technological innovation without forgetting personal happiness and growth. In the future, we look forward to seeing Altman continue to achieve more in the relay of his personal and professional lives, bringing more inspiration and impact to the tech community."