A free bash script called ram-altman will email OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman once a day if a Linux machine's memory utilization falls below 90%, according to the developer behind the project. The tool is hosted on GitHub and is designed to flag what it frames as wasted RAM. Its name comes from Altman's recent display-name change to "Ram Altman" on X, which the developer credited as a humorous gesture.
The script bases its checks on the MemAvailable query, which returns the kernel's own estimate of how much memory programs can claim without swapping, the developer explained. Once installed, it runs a check every five minutes. If it finds the machine wasting memory, it sends Altman a report at a rate of one email per day.
The emails are built from .CSV logs of the machine's RAM use over the course of the day, which serve as the data source for a summary message. The script rotates through eight subject lines, 10 humorous message boilerplates and six signoffs. Samples of the generated emails are posted on the ram-altman.lol website. Altman's email address is not included with the script.
Machines using 90% or more of their RAM are not reported to the OpenAI boss. Users who want to run the checks without sending mail to anyone can do so with the terminal command bash ram-altman.sh --dry-run.
The developer is not especially harsh toward Altman. The script's author cited Altman's explanations that his remarks were taken out of context, and also acknowledged the executive's display-name change on X last week, which gave the script its name.
The script runs natively on Linux and is free. Windows users can run it through WSL, and a PowerShell port also exists. It does not run on Mac, though the developer noted that Altman and his team would find it inconvenient at best to remove memory soldered down in Apple machines.
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