OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has been ousted from his position by the organization’s board, which accuses him of “not being consistently sincere in his communications.” The news was made public on November 17, 2023, after an emergency meeting of the council.
Who is Sam Altman and what is OpenAI?
Sam Altman is an American entrepreneur and investor, known for being the co-founder of OpenAI, the company that developed the extensive artificial intelligence language model GPT-4, creator of ChatGPT and the generative image platform DALL-E. Before leading OpenAI, Altman was the president of Y Combinator, one of the most prestigious startup accelerators in the world.
OpenAI is a non-profit organization dedicated to the research and development of artificial intelligence (AI). openly and ethically. Its mission is to “ensure that AI is beneficial to all humanity, and avoid scenarios in which it becomes an existential risk for our civilization.” Among its founders are personalities such as Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Reid Hoffman and Jack Dorsey.
Why has Altman been fired?
According to the OpenAI board statement, Sam Altman has been fired for “not being consistently candid in his communications, both internal and external, about the goals, progress and risks of OpenAI projects”. The board states that this conduct has generated “mistrust, confusion and frustration” among employees, collaborators and the AI community.
This news has also been carried forward to Greg Brockamco-founder of the company, who has made his resignation public in “X”.
After learning today’s news, this is the message I sent to the OpenAI team: https://t.co/NMnG16yFmm pic.twitter.com/8x39P0ejOM
— Greg Brockman (@gdb) November 18, 2023
i loved my time at openai. 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.
🫡
—Sam Altman (@sama) November 17, 2023
The dismissal of Sam Altman means a hard blow for OpenAI, which loses one of its most influential and visionary leaders. Altman has been responsible for driving ambitious and revolutionary projects such as GPT-4, ChatGPT and DALL-E, which have placed OpenAI at the forefront of AI. However, he has also been the cause of numerous controversies and criticisms for his lack of transparency, his excess of optimism, and his lack of responsibility for the social and ethical impacts of AI.
The OpenAI board has announced that it will search for a new CEO who can “guide the organization toward its mission of creating AI beneficial to all humanity, with honesty, integrity and rigor.” Meanwhile, The interim leadership of OpenAI will fall to Ilya Sutskever, the director of research, and Greg Brockman, the director of technology.
Immediate reaction from Satya Nadella
Microsoft owns 49% of OpenAI shares and thanks to this it has put itself at the forefront of the AI revolution with Copilot, integrating this GPT-4-based product into Windows, Edge and Microsoft 365 applications.
According to Redmond sources, despite recent events, Microsoft intends to continue honoring its long-term agreement with OpenAI with the goal of creating the next generation of artificial intelligence for its clients.
Satya Nadella himself, CEO of the company, has spoken on the social network “X” in the following terms:
As you saw at Microsoft Ignite this week, we’re continuing to rapidly innovate for this era of AI, with over 100 announcements across the full tech stack – from AI systems, models, and tools in Azure, to Copilot. Most importantly, we’re committed to delivering all of this to our…
— Satya Nadella (@satyanadella) November 17, 2023
The firing of Sam Altman also raises a debate on the role and responsibility of AI leaders, both in the private and public spheres. What criteria and values should govern the development and use of AI? What control and oversight mechanisms should be established to ensure the safety, quality and ethics of AI? What benefits and risks does AI imply for society and the planet?