# Why I joined OpenAI

DevFeed: [Why I joined OpenAI](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/why-i-joined-openai-13610.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<http://www.brendangregg.com/blog//2026-02-07/why-i-joined-openai.html>)

Published: 2026-02-06T13:00:00Z

Content type: opinion

Language: en

Sources: [Brendan Gregg's Blog](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/brendan-gregg-s-blog.md>)

Topics: [OpenAI](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/openai.md>), [Artificial Intelligence](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/ai.md>), [datacenter](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/datacenter.md>), [ChatGPT](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/chatgpt.md>)

Tags: [ai](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ai.md>), [ai-adoption](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ai-adoption.md>), [blog](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/blog.md>), [chatgpt](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/chatgpt.md>), [datacenter](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/datacenter.md>), [openai](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/openai.md>), [performance-engineering](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/performance-engineering.md>)

## AI overview

The author explains joining OpenAI to work on datacenter and ChatGPT performance, motivated by the rapidly growing cost and scale of AI infrastructure. The article also describes conversations that changed the author's view of how widely people use ChatGPT in everyday life.

## Source excerpt

The staggering and fast-growing cost of AI datacenters is a call for performance engineering like no other in history; it's not just about saving costs - it's about saving the planet. I have joined OpenAI to work on this challenge directly, with an initial focus on ChatGPT performance. The scale is extreme and the growth is mind-boggling. As a leader in datacenter performance, I've realized that performance engineering as we know it may not be enough - I'm thinking of new engineering methods so that we can find bigger optimizations than we have before, and find them faster. It's the opportunity of a lifetime and, unlike in mature environments of scale, it feels as if there are no obstacles - no areas considered too difficult to change. Do anything, do it at scale, and do it today. Why OpenAI exactly? I had talked to industry experts and friends who recommended several companies, especially OpenAI. However, I was still a bit cynical about AI adoption. Like everyone, I was being bombarded with ads by various companies to use AI, but I wondered: was anyone actually using it? Everyday people with everyday uses? One day during a busy period of interviewing, I realized I needed a haircut (as it happened, it was the day before I was due to speak with Sam Altman). Mia the hairstylist got to work, and casually asked what I do for a living. "I'm an Intel fellow, I work on datacenter performance." Silence. Maybe she didn't know what datacenters were or who Intel was. I followed up: "I'm interviewing for a new job to work on AI datacenters." Mia lit up: "Oh, I use ChatGPT all the time!" While she was cutting my hair - which takes a while - she told me about her many uses of ChatGPT. (I, of course, was a captive audience.) She described uses I hadn't thought of, and I realized how ChatGPT was becoming an essential tool for everyone. Just one example: She was worried about a friend who was travelling in a far-away city, with little timezone overlap when they could chat, but she c