Developer Ian Kay created and published a tool called Ram-Altman on GitHub. The script automatically tracks the amount of unused RAM on a user's PC and daily sends OpenAI CEO Sam Altman emails with a "report on lost resources."
The project was a reaction to the scandalous statements made by the OpenAI head on the Cheeky Pint podcast. There Altman noted: "It's really terrible that every person has a bunch of the limited global supply of DRAM in their computer that's only used about 5% of the time." The remark caused outrage online, since rising RAM prices were already making PC upgrades harder for ordinary users.
How Ram-Altman works
The script checks memory usage every five minutes on a PC running Linux (Windows users can run it via WSL).
If more than 10% of free RAM remains in the system, the program generates a letter.
To make "the joke age at a carefully controlled rate," the author added dynamic templates: 8 email subject variants, 10 message texts, and 6 signature variants.
In one example letter with the subject "You missed a spot," Altman is informed that 8.6 GB of RAM is currently not in a data center and "has no plans for today," and the message is signed as "with concern for responsible accumulation, a worried RAM owner," writes Cybernews.
Community reaction
Online, the initiative was met with humor and irony. Many users began applying Altman's logic to his own wealth.
"Sam Altman owns several large houses. One person can only be in one room at a time, which results in an extremely low utilization rate of his real estate. I think it would be better to demolish his houses and build apartment blocks," one commenter ironizes.
"The first type of cyberbullying that I fully support," users joke in discussions about the project.
You can learn more about the Ram-Altman tool at the link.