If imposter syndrome ever made you doubt your creative abilities, this should put it to rest.
Internal Tech Emails@TechEmails
Naming OpenAI
November 23, 2015
9:09 AM · Jun 28, 2026 · 5.3K Views
Resurfaced 2015 emails published by TechEmails show OpenAI's founders brainstorming and debating the organization's name
Story Overview
Back in November 2015, just weeks before OpenAI's public launch, cofounders traded emails testing out names meant to signal open access to advanced AI, with Elon Musk pitching Freemind as a philosophical alternative to DeepMind's approach and Sam Altman floating Axon while noting risks of sounding too much like existing tech brands.
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FYI
Early ideas reflected mission and recruitment goals
Musk described Freemind as conveying freely available digital intelligence and called it the least bad option considered, while the thread noted that strong names could help attract talent even if most suggestions felt awkward at first.
Open Question
Exact final selection steps stay undocumented here
The resurfaced threads capture initial brainstorming among Musk, Altman and others but leave the precise path to choosing OpenAI unclear, with no new details on domain checks or later input from additional cofounders.
Sentiment
Positive users encourage those involved in OpenAI's 2015 naming brainstorm against imposter syndrome, while negative users dismiss the proposed names as cheap fragrances or bad sci-fi novels.
Pos
33.3%
Neg
66.7%
5 comments with sentiment.
Cluster Engagement
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Rohan Paul@rohanpaul_ai
Interesting thread. on naming OpenAI.
Internal Tech Emails@TechEmails
Naming OpenAI
November 23, 2015
1hViews 5.4KLikes 23Bookmarks 5
RETWEETS2
Olivia Moore@omooretweets
We could have had AI Summer all the time
Internal Tech Emails@TechEmails
Naming OpenAI
November 23, 2015
1hViews 2.5KLikes 18Bookmarks 1
Nathan Labenz@labenz
@binarybits @matt_beard_ @TechEmails Great minds!
Timothy B. Lee@binarybits
@matt_beard_ @TechEmails Haha credit for my podcast name goes to @labenz, who mentioned on an early episode that AI Summer was one of the names he considered for what became the Cognitive Revolution.
15mViews 20Likes 2Bookmarks 0
Dennis Trujillo, PhD@dptru10
@rohanpaul_ai These are ok names for cheap gender neutral fragrances or really terrible sci-fi novels you’d find at goodwill
1hViews 16Likes 2
Rohan Paul@rohanpaul_ai
@Hong60282445 😀
1hViews 57
火gate路径85反@thingstotalk
@deliprao 别自我怀疑了 你就是自己最好的证明
2hViews 27
Max Alexander@absurdlymax
@livgorton "No worries if you think they're all bad :)" is what I'd type right before having a lot of worries if someone thinks they're bad
18mViews 9
Steven Collard@stalmico
@omooretweets ai winter ended, nobody told the gpus
24mViews 6
꧁🐬 ⭑⭒ 🐬 ⭑⭒ 🐬꧂@PumkinMajiic
@rohanpaul_ai AI Summer 🤔
29mViews 6
Adel Bucetta@adelbucetta
@rohanpaul_ai the honest answer is that corporate identity guidelines still can't capture the nuance of what we're building with ai agents
47mViews 6
Hong Groyper@Hong60282445
@rohanpaul_ai thank god they didn’t do the last 2
1hViews 4
Nick@nikxbt
@deliprao the only thing imposter syndrome doubts is your ability to innovate not your talent
1hViews 2