Who wants to live forever? Well, apparently billionaires and they want you to join them. Joining the list of wealthy entrepreneurs who are using their money to invest in longevity, Sam Altman, the CEO of the company responsible for ChatGPT, OpenAI, has recently invested money into a company aiming to delay death by 10 years.
Sam Altman’s Search For Longevity
Per the MIT Technology Review’s report, Sam Altman’s interest in longevity was piqued about eight years ago when he came across “young blood” research. These particular studies involved infusing the skins of old and young mice together in order to combine their blood systems. The researchers then found that the infusion caused the old mice to partly rejuvenate.
At the time, Altman was the head of the startup incubator Y Combinator. He tasked his staff with researching longevity studies and what progress had been made by anti-aging scientists. As time went on, Altman moved away from Y Combinator to focus on OpenAI. However, he was soon pulled back into the science of longevity.
Investing $180 Million To Delay Death
Joe Betts-LaCroix is a scientist, creator of the world’s smallest personal computer, and one of Altman’s associates from Y Combinator. He reached out to Altman following research published by UC Berkeley. According to the paper, diluting the blood plasma of old mice could also have a rejuvenating effect.
“Sam called me up and said ‘Holy moly’ — I’m paraphrasing, that’s not exactly what he said — ‘Did you see this plasma intervention paper?‘” Betts-LaCroix recalled to the MIT Technology Review.
Following much discussion, the two agreed to start a venture around biological aging, with Altman funding it, and so Retro Biosciences was born.
“Our mission is to increase healthy human lifespan by ten years. This will be intensely challenging and require substantial resources.
We are fortunate to have initial funding in the amount of $180 million, which will take us to our first proofs of concept, and secure operation of the company through the decade.” – Retro Biosciences’ website.
Altman shared that he hopes to use Retro Biosciences’ therapies himself one day, but in the meantime, his current longevity regimen includes taking the diabetes drug metformin, eating healthily, and sleeping well.
MAIN IMAGE CREDIT: TechCrunch, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Want to know more?
Sam Altman isn’t the only tech mogul on the hunt for longevity. At 45, it is reported that Bryan Johnson now has “the heart of a 37-year-old, the skin of a 28-year-old, and the lung capacity and fitness of an 18-year-old.”
Spending an average of $2 million a year to increase his health span and longevity, Bryan Johnson may have just discovered the fountain of youth.
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