In a break from commenting on artificial intelligence, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman made a recent post on X, commenting on the meeting culture that has taken over the corporate world. The statement, which was shared on X (formerly Twitter), resonated with many who feel that scheduled meetings have become a burden on office productivity.
“I suspect society was better off with phone call culture than meeting culture,” Altman wrote, without further elaboration. This remark quickly sparked a number of responses, with users coming in with their own experiences – some sided with Altman while others opposed it. Altman’s comment comes at a time when many corporate entities are experimenting with no-meeting days and shifting to more direct forms of communication.
Meeting culture vs phone culture: Altman’s take
The debate, sparked by the OpenAI CEO, highlights a growing tension between traditional work habits and the tools of the modern digital era. Critics of meeting culture have argued in the comments that it often leads to inefficiency and a lack of clear action, with one user writing, “Meetings are just emails cosplaying as productivity.”
Others pointed out that the constant scheduling and rigid structure of meetings can take away from genuine, spontaneous collaboration that was more common with a quick phone call.
Beyond the immediate workplace, Altman has also shared concerns about the impact of technology. In a separate interview, he raised concerns about the potential misuse of AI models to create a ‘COVID-style pandemic,’ noting that these models are becoming “very good at bio (biology).” He highlighted the need for careful management to mitigate such risks, stating, “because we worry about it, I think we, and many others in the industry, are thinking hard about how to mitigate it.”
In other news…
OpenAI recently made a major announcement with the launch of GPT-5 Codex. This is a specialised version of GPT-5 that is optimised specifically for agentic software engineering. Unlike a standard language model, GPT-5 Codex is designed to function as a highly capable coding agent, assisting developers with complex, real-world engineering tasks.
OpenAI has stated that GPT-5 Codex was trained to handle a wide range of responsibilities, from building full projects from scratch and adding new features to debugging, performing large-scale code refactoring, and conducting in-depth code reviews to catch critical bugs before they ship.