How OpenAI kills bureaucracy: the magic friction email that gets things unstuck

OpenAI团队分拆后，继续保留非营利组织的架构，由硅谷一线明星组成的非营利性董事会保留对 OpenAI 知识产权的控制权。 虽然回报上限是100倍，但对大资本来说，已经是非常丰厚了，手握GPT神器的新公司迅速获得了许多资本的青睐。 2019年5月，当时 YC 孵化器的总裁 Sam Altman 辞掉了 YC 的工作，来 OpenAI 做CEO，他的目标之一是不断增加对计算和人才方面的投资，确保通用人工智能（AGI）有益于全人类。 大约在这个时候，微软被认为在人工智能领域落后于其竞争对手，其首席执行官Satya Nadella急切地想证明，他的公司能够在技术的最前沿发挥作用。该公司曾尝试聘请一位知名的 AI 科学家，还花费了大笔钱来购买技术和算力，但未能成功。而OpenAI正好拥有微软期望的技术。Altman 与Nadella 一拍即合。 Sam Altman 与微软 CEO Satya Nadella 2019年7月，重组后的 OpenAI 新公司获得了微软的10亿美元投资（大约一半以Azure云计算的代金券形式）。这是个双赢的合作，微软成为OpenAI 技术商业化的“首选合作伙伴”，未来可获得OpenAI 的技术成果的独家授权，而OpanAI则可借助微软的Azure云服务平台解决商业化问题，缓解高昂的成本压力。 从这时候起，OpenAI告别了单打独斗，而是靠上了微软这棵大树，一起与谷歌竞争。 微软也终于获得了能抗衡谷歌AI的先进技术，确保在未来以AI驱动的云计算竞争中不会掉队。 Altman的加入，虽然解决了关键的资金问题，但他的风格导致了团队价值观的分裂。 [...] 实际上，OpenAI的创始人有很多是的IT巨头的创始人，可以说是全明星阵容。 2015年12月，OpenAI创立 2015年12月，OpenAI公司于美国旧金山成立。说来有趣，OpenAI成立的一个原因就是避免谷歌在人工智能领域的垄断。这个想法起源于Altman发起的一次主题晚宴，当时他是著名创业孵化器 Y Combinator 的负责人。 Sam Altman 是一位年轻的企业家和风险投资家，他曾在斯坦福大学读计算机科学专业，后来退学去创业。他创立的 Loopt ，是一个基于地理位置的社交网络公司。2005年该公司进入Y Combinator的首批创业公司。虽然 Loop

Although the friction email has existed within OpenAI for some time, the process didn’t really catch on until the fall of 2025 when Fidji Simo joined the company as CEO of Applications. She began her tenure with a three-month “listening tour” to understand problems at the company and how she could solve them. Concerns about moving quickly as the company grew were a consistent theme in those conversations. “Companies rarely become bureaucratic all of a sudden” Simo tells Fortune. “It happens one unnecessary meeting, one extra approval, one small frustration at a time. Each makes it only 1 or 2% harder to do your job, which is why they’re easy to ignore, but those frictions compound.” [...] A former OpenAI employee who spoke to Fortune praised the friction system as an effective way for leadership to get ground-level feedback. The process helps teams keep moving forward, tackling issues before they can fester, the person said. That’s especially important as OpenAI’s headcount grows to m

Add Fortune on Google for similar content. Good morning. If you’ve ever worked at a company with more than say, a couple dozen employees, you’ve probably been frustrated by some of the bureaucratic bottlenecks. It’s part of the reason many people in tech like to work at startups (well, that and the potential IPO jackpot). At OpenAI, employees have a magic word to eliminate logjams and cut through the red tape that develops as the company gets larger. It’s called “friction,” and it even has the power to summon CEO Sam Altman. Here’s how it works, as Emily Forlini reports: [...] Here’s how it works, as Emily Forlini reports: The process starts when someone emails [email protected] to report an internal bottleneck. The issues range from a technical system that isn’t working, a process that’s not having the intended result, or office-related frustrations, such as there not being enough IT vending machines. OpenAI’s leadership team triages the emails sent to friction@, moving forwar

2026年3月31日 # OpenAI 籌集 1,220 億美元，加快推進 AI 發展邁向下一階段 今日，我們以投後估值 8,520 億美元，完成最新一輪融資，獲得 1,220 億美元的承諾資本。 OpenAI 正逐步成為 AI 的核心基礎設施，讓全球各地的個人和各種規模的企業，都能直接構建。ChatGPT 廣泛觸及消費者，形成強大的分發渠道，進一步延伸至工作場景；市場需求亦正迅速由使用基礎模型，轉向重塑企業營運方式的智能系統。開發人員透過運用我們的 API 在平台上進行開發及擴展，而 Codex 正在改變開發人員將想法化為可運作軟件的方式。穩定而持續的運算資源，是能在整個系統中不斷累積效益的策略優勢：推進研究、改善產品、擴大使用範圍，並從結構上降低大規模交付的成本。消費者採用、企業部署、開發人員使用，以及運算資源，正共同形成相互強化的飛輪效應，將能力轉化為實質經濟影響。 OpenAI 是最快達到 1,000 萬用戶的科技平台，也是最快達到 1 億用戶的平台，而且很快亦將成為最快達到每週 10 億活躍用戶的平台。在推出 ChatGPT 後一年內，我們的收入已達到 10 億美元。而直至 2024 年底，我們每季收入已達 10 億美元。現在，我們每月收入達至 20 億美元。在這個階段，我們的收入增長速度比定義互聯網和流動時代的公司快四倍，包括 Alphabet 和 Meta。 這種發展速度不只是商業規模，也是實現使命所需的規模。要更快擴大 AI 帶來的好處，最有效的方法，就是及早把實用的智能交到大眾手中，並讓這種使用機會在全球持續累積。AI 正推動生產力提升、加快科學發現，並擴闊個人和機構可以構建的種種機會和成果。這筆融資讓我們具備所需資源，能夠繼續以這個時刻所要求的規模領先前行。 對全球資本的深厚信心 [...] 企業市場同樣保持強勁增長，目前已佔我們收入超過 40%，並有望在 2026 年底前與消費者業務看齊。GPT‑5.4 正推動智能代理工作流程創下歷來最高參與度。我們的 API 現時每分鐘處理超過 150 億個 Token。Codex 現時每週服務超過 200 萬名用戶，較過去三個月增加 5 倍，而使用量按月增長超過 70%。 運算資源是策略優勢 運算資源為 AI 的每一層提供動力：包括前沿研究與模型、產品、部署及收入。自 ChatGPT 推出以

## Marius Comper's Post ### Marius Comper 6h · ❝ Operating at AI speed is not easy. At OpenAI, a special process—and a magic word—helps employees instantly cut through layers of bureaucracy and clear bottlenecks slowing things down. It’s called “friction.” And it has the power to supersede just about anything a team is doing, often carrying the force of CEO Sam Altman or President Greg Brockman with it. The process starts when someone emails [email protected] to report an internal bottleneck. The issues range from a technical system that isn’t working, a process that’s not having the intended result, or office-related frustrations, such as there not being enough IT vending machines. [...] Although the friction email has existed within OpenAI for some time, the process didn’t really catch on until the fall of 2025 when Fidji Simo joined the company as CEO of Applications. She began her tenure with a three-month “listening tour” to understand problems at the company and how she c

Operating at AI speed is not easy. At OpenAI, a special process—and a magic word—helps employees instantly cut through layers of bureaucracy and clear bottlenecks slowing things down. It’s called “friction.” And it has the power to supersede just about anything a team is doing, often carrying the force of CEO Sam Altman or President Greg Brockman with it. The process starts when someone emails [email protected] to report an internal bottleneck. OpenAI’s leadership team triages the emails sent to friction@, moving forward with ones they deem worthy. [...] A former OpenAI employee who spoke to Fortune praised the friction system as an effective way for leadership to get ground-level feedback. The process helps teams keep moving forward, tackling issues before they can fester, the person said. That’s especially important as OpenAI’s headcount grows to more than 8,000 employees expected by the end of this year, with offices across the U.S. and the globe. Read more: [...] Agree & Join Lin