OpenAI Board of Directors abruptly fires CEO Sam Altman.
Greg Brockman Former Chairman and OpenAI President, Jakub Pachocki, director of research, Aleksander Madry, head of AI risk team, and Szymon Sidor, a researcher, have all resigned.
OpenAI current Board of Directors are: Adam D’Angelo, Tasha McCauley, Helen Toner, Ilya Sutskever
Apparently, internal disagreements over AI Safety was the leading cause of sudden disruption.
Announcement: OpenAI announces leadership transition
Chief technology officer Mira Murati appointed interim CEO to lead OpenAI; Sam Altman departs the company.
Search process underway to identify permanent successor.
The board of directors of OpenAI, Inc., the 501(c)(3) that acts as the overall governing body for all OpenAI activities, today announced that Sam Altman will depart as CEO and leave the board of directors. Mira Murati, the company’s chief technology officer, will serve as interim CEO, effective immediately.
A member of OpenAI’s leadership team for five years, Mira has played a critical role in OpenAI’s evolution into a global AI leader. She brings a unique skill set, understanding of the company’s values, operations, and business, and already leads the company’s research, product, and safety functions. Given her long tenure and close engagement with all aspects of the company, including her experience in AI governance and policy, the board believes she is uniquely qualified for the role and anticipates a seamless transition while it conducts a formal search for a permanent CEO.
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.
In a statement, the board of directors said: “OpenAI was deliberately structured to advance our mission: to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all humanity. The board remains fully committed to serving this mission. We are grateful for Sam’s many contributions to the founding and growth of OpenAI. At the same time, we believe new leadership is necessary as we move forward. As the leader of the company’s research, product, and safety functions, Mira is exceptionally qualified to step into the role of interim CEO. We have the utmost confidence in her ability to lead OpenAI during this transition period.”
OpenAI’s board of directors consists of OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, independent directors Quora CEO Adam D’Angelo, technology entrepreneur Tasha McCauley, and Georgetown Center for Security and Emerging Technology’s Helen Toner.
As a part of this transition, Greg Brockman will be stepping down as chairman of the board and will remain in his role at the company, reporting to the CEO.
OpenAI was founded as a non-profit in 2015 with the core mission of ensuring that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity. In 2019, OpenAI restructured to ensure that the company could raise capital in pursuit of this mission, while preserving the nonprofit’s mission, governance, and oversight. The majority of the board is independent, and the independent directors do not hold equity in OpenAI. While the company has experienced dramatic growth, it remains the fundamental governance responsibility of the board to advance OpenAI’s mission and preserve the principles of its Charter.
Learn more:
- OpenAI fires co-founder and CEO Sam Altman for allegedly lying to company board – The Guardian
- Sam Altman: The extraordinary firing of an AI superstar – BBC News
- OpenAI: Why Sam Altman was fired and what’s next after the shocking shakeup – CNN
- Many Details of Sam Altman’s Ouster Are Murky. But Some Things Are Clear. – The New York Times
- OpenAI CEO Sam Altman ousted, shocking AI world. Altman’s pursuit of profits and his growing ambitions to build a world-spanning consumer business triggered concerns among some OpenAI employees – The Washington Post
- OpenAI Fires CEO Sam Altman After Losing Confidence In His Leadership – Forbes
- WTF is going on at OpenAI? We have theories – TechCrunch
- OpenAI CEO Sam Altman pushed out after losing board’s confidence – FT (paywall)
- OpenAI schism leads to Sam Altman’s ousting — and an opening to rivals – FT (paywall)
- What Sam Altman’s surprise sacking means for the AI race – The Economist (paywall)
- Details emerge of surprise board coup that ousted CEO Sam Altman at OpenAI. Microsoft CEO Nadella “furious”; OpenAI President and three senior researchers resign. – Are Technica
- OpenAI President Greg Brockman quits as shocked employees hold all-hands meeting – Are Technica
- According to reporting from Kara Swisher and The Information, it’s looking like the ouster of Altman stemmed from an internal disagreement over the direction of the company with regard to a focus on profits over safety, with Chief Scientist Illya Sutskever apparently behind the board maneuvering. Altman’s firing came as a complete surprise to Altman and Brockman, who were kept in the dark about the decision until Friday afternoon.
- OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Says His Company Is Now Building GPT-5 – Singularity Hub
- OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says that ChatGPT is not the way to superintelligence – The Street
- OpenAI chief seeks new Microsoft funds to build ‘superintelligence’ Sam Altman expects Big Tech group will back start-up’s mission to create software as intelligent as humans – FT
- OpenAI set to launch store as ChatGPT reaches 100mn users. Group aims to turn artificial intelligence interface into a digital platform – FT
- How to keep the lid on the Pandora’s box of open AI. The debate currently playing out will have an impact on global productivity and stability – FT
- Will AI Policy Became a War on Open Source Following Meta’s Launch of LLaMA 2 ? – Medium
- Google Delays Release of Gemini AI That Aims to Compete With OpenAI – The Information (paywall)
- OpenAI’s six-member board will decide ‘when we’ve attained AGI’ – Venture Beat
- Why tech giants are hedging their bets on OpenAI. Microsoft, Google, and Amazon have put their money on various other AI chatbot makers – Quartz
- Inside the Chaos at OpenAI – The Atlantic (paywall)