According to Bloomberg:
OpenAI, a pioneering company widely used for tools that generate professional digital content from simple prompts, fired its co-founder and CEO Sam Altman, and lost another senior executive after a series of escalating disagreements over a core issue in artificial intelligence: how to profit from the technology while keeping it safe.
Altman clashed with his board members, particularly Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI co-founder and chief scientist at the company, over how to quickly develop so-called generative AI and how to commercialize the product, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. and necessary steps to reduce its potential harm to the public. said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The San Francisco-based OpenAI board shocked the AI community on Friday by announcing it had fired Altman, saying they had lost confidence in his leadership and that "he had not been consistently candid in his communications with the board." Within hours, the OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman, chairman of the board of directors, said he will also leave the company. Brockman posted on X (formerly Twitter): "Based on today's news, I am resigning."
The AI community has long been divided over the speed with which tools can be developed to quickly generate a wide range of images, software code and blocks of text. Some believe the technology poses a threat to users if left unchecked, while others say slowing down development is irresponsible and could put people at risk — for example, depriving patients of more Treatments discovered quickly through AI. These controversies have dogged OpenAI since its inception, and disagreements over safety and commercialization were the reasons why Elon Musk severed ties with OpenAI in 2018. The controversies also explain why a group of employees left in 2020 to found rival Anthropic.
While announcing Altman's departure, the OpenAI board also said Mira Murati, an Albanian-born, Dartmouth-educated engineer, will serve as OpenAI's interim CEO. Murati has helped develop some of the company's best-known products.
Beyond strategic differences, board members also faced Altman's entrepreneurial ambitions. Altman has been seeking to raise tens of billions of dollars from Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds to create an AI chip startup to compete with processors made by Nvidia Corp, according to a person familiar with the investment proposals. Altman is seeking a billion-dollar investment from SoftBank Group Corp. Chairman Masayoshi Son in a new company to make AI-oriented hardware in partnership with former Apple designer Jony Ive.
Sutskever and his allies on OpenAI's board were unhappy with Altman's efforts to capitalize on OpenAI's fame and raised concerns that the new business might not share the same governance model as OpenAI.
Shock at these moves was widespread within OpenAI and throughout the tech community. "Sam and I are shocked and saddened by what the board did today," Brockman posted on X. "We're still trying to figure out what happened."
Brockman said the board spoke with Altman on a Google Meet, where Sutskever broke the news: "Ilya told Sam he was fired and that the news would be announced soon." The move was sudden and left the company Most people inside, including Altman himself, were surprised when access to his email and company equipment was quickly cut off.
Microsoft executives were also surprised. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was "blindsided" by the news and furious, according to a person with direct knowledge of his thinking.
Sutskever's concerns have been growing in recent months. In July this year, he formed a new team within the company to control future "super-intelligent" AI systems. Before joining OpenAI, the Israeli-Canadian computer scientist worked at Google Brain and as a researcher at Stanford University.
A month ago, Sutskever's responsibilities at the company were reduced, reflecting friction between him and Altman and Brockman. Sutskever later appealed to the board, winning support from some members, including Helen Toner, director of strategy at Georgetown University's Center for Security and Emerging Technologies.
News of Altman's firing also shocked major investors and startups in Silicon Valley and plunged one of the tech world's most promising sectors into uncertainty.
Companies firing founders are part of a recurring foundational lore in Silicon Valley. Apple fired Steve Jobs in 1985; Twitter fired co-founder Jack Dorsey in 2008. Both executives famously returned to their companies years later. But Altman's departure could have a bigger impact on the industry he represents.
The immediate reaction to the news from the tech community was one of surprise, disappointment and speculation. Industry group chats came alive, with investors and tech leaders swapping theories on social media about why OpenAI's board fired its famous CEO. Due to a lack of information from the company, prediction betting platform Manifold Markets started accepting bets on the cause.
As of late Friday morning, Altman was still sending regular emails to employees in his capacity as CEO. He even attended multiple events on Thursday, speaking on behalf of OpenAI at the APEC Summit in San Francisco and attending a Burning Man-related evening event where he talked about the future of AI art.
Earlier this month, the company held its first developer conference, dubbed DevDay, to drum up excitement about its products. "I think the developer community really loves following bold visionaries, and DevDay happened and I was there and the excitement was just overwhelming," said Matt Schlicht, CEO of Octane AI. "That was about a week ago."
OpenAI was founded as a nonprofit in 2015, but its business model has evolved. After the company launched its chatbot ChatGPT and made it available to the public last year, its popularity skyrocketed, shocking users with creative, elegant writing and prompting consumers, organizations and businesses to reimagine the way they work. Earlier this year, the company was in talks to sell existing employee shares at a valuation of $86 billion, putting it among the world's most valuable startups.
Altman also has an important influence in the technology world, supporting and participating in a series of start-up companies. He was also a leading ambassador for artificial intelligence, and his departure could undermine broader confidence in the technology. But as with past scandals, some predict the industry will take the news in stride.
“I don’t think this is going to shake anyone’s faith in the technology,” said Cory Klippsten, CEO of Swan, a Bitcoin financial services company. “I think it’s going to make people take a closer look at the biases, the rules that exist in the OpenAI structure. or agreement.”
Despite the shock and sadness, Altman was in a good mood Friday night, according to a person close to him. In another post, Altman said: "I love you all." He added: "Today has been a strange experience in so many ways. But one unexpected one is that it's like reading this while you're still alive to his own eulogy. This outpouring of love was just amazing.”
According to one person, Altman may start another company and work with former OpenAI employees. Altman's firing follows a wave of employee departures, and this person said more may be coming in the coming days.
In another post, Altman hinted that he would have more to say about the company in the future: "If I start speaking out, the OpenAI board should hold me accountable for the full value of my shares." Altman famously said that he had a stake in the startup There is no equity.
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