
Sam Altman fired as CEO of OpenAI (theverge.com) 62
Sam Altman has been fired as CEO of OpenAI, the company announced on Friday. Slashdot reader tagous submitted this statement from OpenAI's board: Mr. Altman's departure follows a deliberative review process by the board, which concluded that he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities. The board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI.
The Verge reports:
Chief technology officer Mira Murati will be the interim CEO, effective immediately. The company will be conducting a search for the permanent CEO successor. Employees at OpenAI found out about the news when it was announced publicly, according to multiple sources. This is an extremely sudden turn of events as Altman has largely been the face of OpenAI, which arguably kickstarted the current AI arms race with last year's hugely popular ChatGPT. Just last week, Altman keynoted at the company's DevDay conference, where it announced a suite of major new updates to compete with other big tech companies like Microsoft and Google. Altman also spoke at Thursday's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference. "I loved my time at OpenAI," Altman said in a post on X. "It was transformative for me personally, and hopefully the world a little bit. Most of all I loved working with such talented people. Will have more to say about what's next later."
UPDATE: OpenAI President Greg Brockman and three senior researchers at OpenAI resigned. According to The Information, Brockman "helped launch the artificial intelligence developer and has been key to developing ChatGPT and other core products." He was also a "member of the six-member board that fired Altman."
Tech reporter Kara Swisher writes that there was a conflict between "the profit direction of the company under Altman and the speed of development, which could be seen as too risky, and the nonprofit side dedicated to more safety and caution.... One person on the Sam side called it a 'coup,' while another said it was the the right move."
UPDATE: OpenAI President Greg Brockman and three senior researchers at OpenAI resigned. According to The Information, Brockman "helped launch the artificial intelligence developer and has been key to developing ChatGPT and other core products." He was also a "member of the six-member board that fired Altman."
Tech reporter Kara Swisher writes that there was a conflict between "the profit direction of the company under Altman and the speed of development, which could be seen as too risky, and the nonprofit side dedicated to more safety and caution.... One person on the Sam side called it a 'coup,' while another said it was the the right move."