Sam Altman's Korea Visit Canceled: The Real Reason Behind the Postponement

It has been confirmed that the reason OpenAI CEO Sam Altman canceled his visit to South Korea just before his scheduled arrival was the birth of his child.

On June 12, OpenAI announced that Altman’s visit, originally scheduled for June 14–15, had been canceled, stating, "We look forward to visiting Korea again in the near future to meet with you."

Altman had planned to visit Korea to meet with executives from major domestic companies, including Samsung Electronics, Naver, and Kakao, to discuss cooperation in the AI sector.

At the time, the company only cited "personal reasons" without providing specific details, which led to various speculations in the industry, such as potential U.S. government investigations into OpenAI or the imminent launch of a new model.

However, as it was recently revealed that Altman had welcomed his second daughter via surrogate, the focus shifted to the possibility that the birth and his travel schedule had overlapped.

In fact, Altman himself shared the news of his daughter's birth in his own words.

Altman had planned to travel to Japan after his engagements in Korea to attend an event announcing a partnership model with SoftBank, but he did not appear there either. In a video message played at the event, Altman said, "I am sorry I could not attend the event. My daughter was born earlier than expected, and she is currently in the hospital."

Sam Altman, who married his same-sex partner Oliver Mulherin in 2023, welcomed his first son via surrogate in 2025.

Reported by Yoo Ji-won | Video by Kim Na-on | Photo: X | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.