Sam Altman, Chief Executive Officer of OpenAI, and Mira Murati, Chief Technology Officer of OpenAI, speak during The Wall Street Journal’s WSJ Tech Live Conference in Laguna Beach, California on October 17, 2023.
Patrick T. Fallon | Afp | Getty Images
OpenAI’s board of directors said Friday that Sam Altman will step down as CEO and shall be replaced on an interim basis by technology chief Mira Murati.
The corporate said it conducted “a deliberative review process” and “concluded that he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities.”
“The board not has confidence in his ability to proceed leading OpenAI,” the statement said.
OpenAI’s board includes chief scientist Ilya Sutskever and independent directors such as Quora CEO Adam D’Angelo, technology entrepreneur Tasha McCauley, and Helen Toner of the Georgetown Center for Security and Emerging Technology. OpenAI says the board of its 501(c)(3) is the “overall governing body for all OpenAI activities.”
The board also said that Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s president, “shall be stepping down as chairman of the board and can remain in his role at the corporate, reporting to the CEO.”
Sam Altman acknowledged that he was leaving OpenAI in a post on X on Friday, but didn’t mention any accusations by the firm’s board that he didn’t be candid during unspecified reviews. He said he loved working at the corporate and that he would talk more about “what’s next later.”
Regarding the appointment of Murati, OpenAI said, “Because the leader of the corporate’s research, product, and safety functions, Mira is exceptionally qualified to step into the role of interim CEO. We have now the utmost confidence in her ability to guide OpenAI during this transition period.”
OpenAI, which has raised billions of dollars from Microsoft and ranked first on CNBC’s Disruptor 50 list this yr, jumped into the mainstream in late 2022 after releasing its AI chatbot ChatGPT to the general public. The service went viral by allowing users to convert easy text into creative conversation and has pushed big tech firms such as Alphabet and Meta to step up their investments in generative AI.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella (R) speaks as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman (L) looks on throughout the OpenAI DevDay event on November 06, 2023 in San Francisco, California. Altman delivered the keynote address at the primary ever Open AI DevDay conference.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images
Microsoft shares slipped after the announcement, closing the day down 1.7% at $369.84.
A Microsoft spokesperson said in an announcement that the corporate has “a long-term partnership with OpenAI and Microsoft stays committed to Mira and their team as we bring this next era of AI to our customers.”
In a post on X, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella commented about his company’s “long-term agreement with OpenAI,” explaining that it might “remain committed to our partnership, and to Mira and the team.” Nadella didn’t address Altman’s departure.
Brockman also shared a post on X that included the message he sent to his former OpenAI colleagues, informing them that he “quit” after he learned about “today’s news.”
Later within the evening, Brockman said in an X post that each he and Altman were “shocked and saddened by what the board did today.”
Sutskever instigated a virtual meeting with Altman that the remaining of the OpenAI board attended except Brockman, the now-former OpenAI president claimed within the X post. It was during this meeting that Sutskever allegedly fired Altman, telling him “that the news was going out very soon,” Brockman wrote.
Lower than half-an-hour later, Brockman claimed to have received a text message from Sutskever, by which the chief scientist summoned for an additional virtual meeting. At this meeting, Brockman said he learned of Altman’s firing and that he was being faraway from OpenAI’s board, but was assured to be “vital to the corporate and would retain his role.”
“As far as we all know, the management team was made aware of this shortly after, aside from Mira who discovered the night prior,” Brockman said within the post, which was quickly followed by a separate message from Altman.
Altman said in an X post that “today was a weird experience in some ways. but one unexpected one is that it has been sorta like reading your individual eulogy when you’re still alive.”
“if i start going off, the openai board should go after me for the total value of my shares,” Altman said in one other X post.
OpenAI debuted in 2015 as a nonprofit and employed Sutskever as research director and Brockman as chief technology officer. The firm’s original investors included several outstanding Silicon Valley luminaries like Altman, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who reportedly committed $1 billion to the project.
Before taking on as CEO, Altman, 38, was president of startup accelerator Y Combinator and gained prominence in Silicon Valley as an early-stage investor. Earlier in his profession, he began the social networking company Loopt.
As OpenAI’s popularity grew this yr alongside ChatGPT, so too did Altman’s profile. He became an envoy of sorts, representing the ballooning AI industry across the globe.
Altman’s big yr as OpenAI’s CEO
In September, Indonesia awarded Altman the so-called “Golden Visa,” providing him with 10 years price of varied travel accommodations and perks intended to assist the country gain more foreign investors.
Altman visited several Asia-Pacific countries over the summer including Singapore, India, China, South Korea and Japan, meeting with government leaders and officials and giving public speeches on the rise of AI and the necessity for regulations.
The technologist testified before the U.S. Senate in May, calling on lawmakers to manage AI, citing the technology’s potential to have a negative impact on the job market, the knowledge ecosystem, and other societal and economic concerns.
“I feel if this technology goes unsuitable, it will probably go quite unsuitable,” Altman said on the time. “And we wish to be vocal about that. We wish to work with the federal government to forestall that from happening.”
In a prelude to his Senate testimony, Altman also spoke at a dinner with roughly 60 lawmakers, who were reportedly wowed by his speech and demonstrations.
Open AI’s CEO Sam Altman testifies at an oversight hearing by the Senate Judiciaryâs Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law to look at A.I., specializing in rules for artificial intelligence in Washington, DC on May sixteenth, 2023.
Nathan Posner | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
“It’s demanding to maintain members of Congress rapt for near two hours,” said Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., vice chair of the House Democratic Caucus, who co-hosted the dinner with GOP Conference Vice Chair Mike Johnson, R-La., now House speaker. “So Sam Altman was very informative and provided a variety of information.”
More recently, Altman spoke this week on the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference in San Francisco, together with various technology executives and world leaders including U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
OpenAI held its first developer conference in early November, underscoring the startup’s rising popularity within the technology industry. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella made a surprise guest appearance throughout the event, joining Altman on stage to debate the startup’s AI technologies and its partnership with Microsoft.
Altman didn’t immediately reply to a request for more information.
— CNBC’s Lora Kolodny contributed to this report.
WATCH: OpenAI says Altman exiting as CEO
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