Developer Creates Linux Script to Email Sam Altman About Unused Computer Memory
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A web developer has made a computer program that automatically sends an email to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman every day. The message tells him how much random-access memory, or RAM, is sitting unused on the user's personal computer.
The project is called Ram-Altman and was published on GitHub by a developer named IainKay. The script was built to react to comments that Altman made on a podcast about the global supply of computer memory. During an appearance on the Cheeky Pint podcast, Altman discussed the limited global supply of DRAM chips and said it is terrible for allocation when people have the world's limited memory sitting in their own personal computers. He also stated that personal computer memory is used only about 5% of the time.
Those remarks drew online criticism. Altman later defended himself on the social media platform X, writing that he actually wants the world to have plenty of memory and for people to put as much as they want in their computers. He also briefly changed his display name on the platform to "Ram Altman," which inspired the title of the new software project.
The Ram-Altman program is a Bash script designed to run on Linux computers. It checks the machine's memory use every five minutes. If more than 10% of the computer's RAM is available, the script can automatically send an email to Altman detailing the exact amount of unused memory, with a limit of one message per day. To keep the daily messages varied, the program includes eight rotating subject lines, ten different messages, and six sign-offs. For example, one email titled "You missed a spot" reads: "Please don’t be alarmed, but there is 8.6 GiB of RAM on my desk that isn’t in a data centre. That’s 56.2% of what’s installed here, and as far as I can tell it has no plans today".
Despite the humorous nature of the project, the creator has urged people not to flood Altman's inbox with messages. The GitHub page warns that one daily email from a single person is a joke, but ten thousand of them would turn into a denial-of-service attack with better material. To keep users safe and prevent accidents, the script does not include Altman's email address by default and comes with a dry-run option that lets people preview the emails without actually sending them.
Summary
The project highlights ongoing online talks about how computer hardware resources are split between massive data centers and individual users. While the script is a joke inspired by public remarks from a tech executive, its creator built safety limits to stop the project from turning into online harassment.