OpenAI fires Sam Altman as board loses confidence in him
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OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, fired its co-founder and CEO, Sam Altman, on Friday after a review found he wasn't "consistently candid in his communications" with the board of directors. In a statement, the artificial intelligence company added, "The board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI." OpenAI's chief technology officer, Mira Murati, will take over as interim CEO.
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Altman's reaction to being fired
Reacting to his sacking, Altman took to X (formerly Twitter) and wrote, "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," he added.
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Greg Brockman leaves OpenAI after Altman's sacking
Hours after Altman's firing, the start-up's co-founder and President Greg Brockman quit the firm after the board announced that he would also be stepping down as chairman. "Genuinely wishing you all nothing but the best. I continue to believe in the mission of creating safe AGI that benefits all of humanity," Brockman wrote in a message to the Microsoft-backed OpenAI team.
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Microsoft chief reaffirms partnership with OpenAI
Amid the development, Microsoft chief Satya Nadella reaffirmed the company's partnership with OpenAI. "As you saw at Microsoft Ignite this week, we're continuing to rapidly innovate for this era of AI from AI systems, models, and tools in Azure, to Copilot," Nadella tweeted. "Most importantly, we're committed to delivering all of this to our customers while building for the future," he added.
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Altman's journey to becoming a household name
Altman became a household name after the launch of ChatGPT last year, which fascinated and frightened the public due to its abilities. Altman initially served as a co-chair of OpenAI alongside Elon Musk, but Musk left in 2018 to avoid a conflict of interest with Tesla. Unlike other traditional private companies, OpenAI's board consists primarily of outsiders.
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Know about remaining board members of OpenAI
With the departures of Brockman and Altman, its remaining board members are the company's chief scientist, Ilya Sutskever, Quora CEO Adam D'Angelo, former GeoSim Systems CEO Tasha McCauley, and Georgetown's Center for Security and Emerging Technology's director of strategy, Helen Toner.