Recently, in a viral social media post Austen Allred, the CEO and co-founder of BloomTech claimed that eight Silicon Valley CEOs have resigned from their positions after experimenting with psychedelic drugs. Now, OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman has also revealed that he has been taking psychedelic drugs.
As reported by Business Insider, in a recent interview on the podcast “Life in Seven Songs, Altman revealed how a weekend retreat in Mexico significantly impacted his life and perspective.
Altman described psychedelic drug use as one of the most transformative experiences of his life. He stated that psychedelic experiences can be “incredibly powerful” and that they have personally been life-altering.
For those unaware, Psychedelic drugs have been used across different cultures for spiritual and healing purposes. Recently, there has been a renewed focus on their potential therapeutic applications, particularly in the areas of mental health and self-discovery.
Despite his reputation for confidence and charm, the billionaire revealed that he used to be a “very anxious, unhappy person.” “If you had told me that, like, one weekend-long retreat in Mexico was going to significantly change that, I would have said absolutely not,” said Altman.
The CEO stated that while he has tried psychedelics at Burning Man(a week-long large-scale desert event, held annually in the western United States), his most profound experiences have been with guided psychedelic retreats. He characterised his experiences at Burning Man as less transformative and rare occurrences.
Altman’s association with psychedelics
Altman’s interest in psychedelics extends beyond personal experiences. He has served as the board chairman of Journey Colab, a startup focusing on developing clinical psychedelic drugs for addiction therapy.
The viral post
Austen Allred, the San Francisco-based CEO and co-founder of BloomTech claimed that eight Silicon Valley CEOs have resigned from their positions after experimenting with psychedelic drugs. The post, which has been widely shared on X (formerly Twitter), alleges that these high-ranking executives at prominent tech companies decided to leave their jobs following their experiences with psychedelics. While the post does not provide specific names or companies.
Read the post here
“Of the Silicon Valley founders I know who went on some of the psychedelic self-discovery trips, almost 100% quit their jobs as CEO within a year. Could be random anecdotes, but be careful with that stuff,” posted Allred on X.
Responding to a post by X user Ashlee Vance, the CEO of BloomTech claimed that a venture capitalist had told him, “Ayahuasca has caused us to lose several promising founders. They came back to work with a lack of motivation.”
In the comments section of the post, Allred stated that he was aware of eight CEOs who had resigned from their jobs after using psychedelics. When asked, “How many do you think are happier now?”, he replied that four of them seemed content after stepping down as CEOs.
