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OpenAI Just FIRED their CEO

The Only News Anyone Is Talking About

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Today’s newsletter includes:

  • 📰 AI Featured News

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AI Featured News

Well, if you’ve been living under a rock…this one is for you.

We’re covering one topic, and one topic only.

On Friday, OpenAI’s Board of Directors abruptly fired their CEO, Sam Altman.

Sam Altman IS the face of AI, so why would the Board fire him?

Who is even on the Board? Here’s a rundown of OpenAI’s Board of Directors and other key figureheads:

  • Greg Brockman: OpenAI board chairman, former CTO, and co-founder. Quit his role at OpenAI in protest of Altman's ousting.

  • Ilya Sutskever: OpenAI board member, current Chief Scientist, and co-founder. He’s the one who fired Sam.

  • Adam D'Angelo: OpenAI board member, and CEO of Quora. Former Facebook CTO.

  • Tasha McCauley: OpenAI board member, and scientist at Rand Corp.

  • Helen Toner: OpenAI board member, and expert on AI safety and governance.

  • Sam Altman: OpenAI CEO since its founding in 2015, and co-founder.

  • Mira Murati: OpenAI CTO, and key negotiator for Microsoft partnership. She is currently OpenAI’s interim CEO.

  • Brad Lightcap: OpenAI’s COO who is advocating for Sam’s reinstatement as CEO.

  • Satya Nadella: Microsoft CEO who led Microsoft’s multi-billion dollar investment in OpenAI.

Here are the highlights from the weekend.

Thursday

  • Sam attends APEC Summit representing OpenAI.

  • Ilya texts Sam to schedule call on Friday.

  • Ilya informs Mira Murati that Sam will be fired and she will be interim CEO.

Friday

  • Ilya calls Greg Brockman to remove him as chairman.

  • OpenAI fires Sam in press release, cites "lack of candor".

  • Ilya holds all-hands meeting announcing firing due to company’s mission of “making AI beneficial to humanity”.

  • Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, releases statement that Microsoft will continue to be committed to their partnership with OpenAI.

  • Greg Brockman announces his resignation on X.

  • 3 senior employees resign in protest.

Saturday

  • Brad Lightcap memo: Firing unrelated to malfeasance.

  • Sam announces plans for new ventures.

  • Reports of investors pushing to reinstate Sam.

  • OpenAI’s Board agrees “in principle” to resign, but “waffles” and misses their decision deadline.

Sunday

  • Sam seen at OpenAI offices, negotiating return.

Monday

  • No one knows.

  • If reinstated, the Board may resign and Sam's pay could rise, since OpenAI was a non-profit. New governance rules expected.

  • But if Sam is not brought back, more employees may leave, causing a "brain drain." Investors may also pull funding and support Sam and Greg's next venture instead. Losing talent and backing could destabilize OpenAI, clouding its future.

So, how was the board able to fire Sam so abruptly?

OpenAI originally started as a nonprofit in 2015 with the goal of developing beneficial AGI. But the nonprofit model limited their ability to raise capital.

So in 2019, OpenAI created a for-profit subsidiary capable of taking investments, while the nonprofit remained intact as the overall governing body. The for-profit is bound to pursue the nonprofit's mission under its control.

This complex structure allowed substantial investments from Microsoft and others, while capping returns to focus on the mission, not profits.

But it also concentrated power in the hands of the nonprofit board. As a nonprofit board, they are legally required to act in service of OpenAI's mission.

So when the board abruptly fired CEO Sam Altman, they cited duty to the mission as justification. This incident reveals how the nonprofit board has ultimate control over OpenAI, despite major for-profit investments.

The outcry over Altman's firing shows the risks of this unusual corporate structure.

My Thoughts

You have two camps at OpenAI. The “doomers” who think AI will bring about the end of humanity as we know it, and the “boomers” who think AI will reap immeasurable benefits for humanity.

Sam Altman has always advocated the need to keep AI open source and transparent, and that safety over profits has always been the main goal.

However, in the last year Sam has been pushing for more commercialization of AI.

Last week Sam announced the GPT Marketplace, which promises to be like the Apple Store where people can create and sell their own GPTs.

Sam has also been seeking funding in the Middle East for a project code named “Tigris” to create AI computer chips that rival Nvidia.

As well as partnering with Jony Ive, Apple’s former Chief Design Officer, to create the “iPhone of artificial intelligence”.

Many speculate that Sam’s endeavors are seen as “moving too fast” and “choosing profits over safety” by Ilya and other board members, which resulted in their attempted coup.

Overall, I agree, I think OpenAI has been pushing out too many features too fast. Features like “plugins” and “GPTs” have been reported as being “buggy”, which one can assume is because these features were “rushed” to market.

But I don’t think the solution is to abruptly fire your CEO.

The following is a play-by-play of the weekend:

Will Sam Altman be re-instated as CEO of OpenAI?

Let me know what you think!

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AI Tool Of The Week

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KREA: A design tool to generate images and videos.

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