Jake Paul has worn many hats over the last decade, including internet prankster, Disney Channel actor, professional boxer, and controversial YouTuber. But in 2026, he is adding a new title to the list: serious venture capitalist. While many people still see him as a firebrand who picks fights for views, a new report from Business Insider reveals that Paul is quietly becoming a student of some of the most powerful people in Silicon Valley.
Perhaps the most surprising name on his list of mentors is Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI. According to Paul, the two have formed a bond that is changing the way he looks at business, productivity, and the future of technology.
An unlikely meeting over fast cars
In a world of high-stakes tech deals, you might expect a partnership like this to start in a fancy boardroom in San Francisco. Instead, it started with a conversation about cars.
Speaking on the Sourcery podcast, Jake Paul explained that he first met Sam Altman while they were sitting next to each other at President Donald Trump’s second inauguration. It didn’t take long for them to find common ground.
“Sam likes fast cars, and so do I,” Paul said in the podcast. “So, we just started talking about cars, and then we got along, and that was really it.”
That simple connection turned into a professional relationship. Paul’s venture capital firm, Anti Fund, which he runs along with his brother, Logan Paul, and experienced entrepreneur Geoffrey Woo, became an investor in OpenAI in 2025. Since then, Paul hasn’t just been a passive investor; he has been watching and learning.
The power of the 15-minute meeting
The biggest lesson Paul says he has learned from Altman is not about coding or artificial intelligence. It is about the value of time.
In the entertainment world, meetings can drag on for hours. Creative brainstorming often involves a lot of “fluff” and wasted energy. However, Paul noticed that Altman operates in a completely different way. He described watching the OpenAI CEO run meetings that were “quick and tidy.”
Paul explained that Altman typically walks into a room, sits down, and gets straight to the point. There is no “boom boom boom” of useless small talk. In just 15 minutes, Altman can accomplish what most people take an hour to do.
“We’ll do hour-long meetings or calls and just waste time,” Paul said on the podcast. He called Altman’s efficiency ‘inspiring,’ explaining that time is the only resource that truly limits what a person can accomplish.
This philosophy isn’t new for Altman. As far back as 2018, Altman wrote on his personal blog that the standard “one-hour default” for meetings is usually wrong. He prefers meetings to be either very short (15–20 minutes) or very long, deep dives (two hours). By sticking to the 15-minute window, he can churn through dozens of productive conversations in a single day.
Consulting on the future of AI
The partnership between Anti Fund and OpenAI goes much deeper than just writing a check. Jake Paul is actually using his “influencer” expertise to help OpenAI shape its products.
Paul revealed that he served as a consultant for the launch of Sora 2, OpenAI’s advanced video-generation model. If you spent any time on social media during the launch, you probably saw some very strange AI-generated videos of Jake Paul. In one viral clip, an AI version of Paul even appeared to “come out.”
While many fans thought these were leaks or jokes, Geoffrey Woo explained on the podcast that they were actually intentional. Paul was one of the first major celebrities to officially sign over his Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) to OpenAI. He wanted to help the company test how famous people could safely and creatively use AI versions of themselves.
“Jake was thoughtful in terms of why we were part of that launch,” Woo said.
Paul believes he brings a perspective to OpenAI that traditional engineers simply don’t have. He and his brother Logan have been at the top of the social media world since the word “influencer” was first used. Because of this, Paul was able to offer “super detailed consulting” on how the user interface of Sora 2 should look. He helped the tech giant understand what content creators actually want and how audiences will react to AI-generated content.
‘Things might be cooking’
The Paul brothers are no longer just “internet kids” playing with money. Anti Fund closed a major $30 million fund in September 2025. Their portfolio is full of heavy hitters, including the defence technology startup Anduril and the prediction market Polymarket.
But their strongest tie remains with OpenAI. Woo mentioned that the Anti Fund team recently spent several hours at OpenAI’s headquarters looking for new ways to work together. “Things might be cooking,” Woo teased, suggesting that more collaborations are on the way.
For Jake Paul, this transition is about growth. He has spent years capturing people’s attention for as long as possible through 20-minute YouTube vlogs and three-hour boxing broadcasts. But after spending time with Sam Altman, he seems to realise that the most successful people in the world don’t want to capture your time, they want to master their own.
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