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- OpenAI Just FIRED their CEO
OpenAI Just FIRED their CEO
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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:
OpenAI announces leadership transition
— OpenAI (@OpenAI)
8:28 PM • Nov 17, 2023
A statement from Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella dlvr.it/SyzYPm
— Everything Microsoft (@EverythingMS)
11:30 PM • Nov 17, 2023
More on @OpenAI: Several sources told me Board told Sam Altman 30 mins in advance, Greg Brockman 5 mins in advance about the move. Brockman is chair of the board, so not sure how that worked. Microsoft also was told just before, and employees not told in advance. 🤡 🚗
— Kara Swisher (@karaswisher)
3:31 AM • Nov 18, 2023
Sam and I are shocked and saddened by what the board did today.
Let us first say thank you to all the incredible people who we have worked with at OpenAI, our customers, our investors, and all of those who have been reaching out.
We too are still trying to figure out exactly… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
— Greg Brockman (@gdb)
4:42 AM • Nov 18, 2023
i love you all.
today was a weird experience in many ways. but one unexpected one is that it has been sorta like reading your own eulogy while you’re still alive. the outpouring of love is awesome.
one takeaway: go tell your friends how great you think they are.
— Sam Altman (@sama)
5:05 AM • Nov 18, 2023
reporting notes on the OpenAI debacle from last night’s newsletter:
- A coup led from the research side of the house
- Altman has been looking at outside biz endeavors for a bit now
- My hunch is that was announced at DevDay last week played a role
- OpenAI probably about to look… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…— Alex Heath (@alexeheath)
5:00 PM • Nov 18, 2023
Given the risk and power of advanced AI, the public should be informed of why the board felt they had to take such drastic action
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk)
5:34 PM • Nov 19, 2023
@gdb@sama@emilychangtv CONFIRMED:
As reported by Axios, COO of OpenAI, Brad Lightcap said the firing was not a result of "malfeasance or anything related to our financial, business, safety, or security/privacy practices" but rather a "breakdown in communications between Sam Altman and the board"
— Rowan Cheung (@rowancheung)
7:36 PM • Nov 18, 2023
first and last time i ever wear one of these
— Sam Altman (@sama)
9:03 PM • Nov 19, 2023
Exclusive: Footage of Sam Altman returning to OpenAI as CEO
— Daniel ∞ (@danielmerja)
11:28 PM • Nov 18, 2023
Will Sam Altman be re-instated as CEO of OpenAI?Let me know what you think! |
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