AI

On November 20th at 8:15 am, Ilya Sutskever, the Co-Founder and Chief Scientist at OpenAI, expressed his remorse on Twitter/X for his involvement in the decision to remove Sam Altman as CEO, acknowledging the harm it caused to OpenAI.

The collaboration between OpenAI and Microsoft, which began in 2019, aims to develop advanced AI systems considered a groundbreaking technological innovation. Although Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was unaware of Altman’s dismissal, it is worth noting that Microsoft has invested over 13 billion dollars in OpenAI to compete with Google’s dominance on the Internet. While I cannot speculate on their reasoning, such a substantial investment surely merits a notification when there is a significant shift in power within the company.

Speculation has been circulating about the potential return of Sam, but it seems that these rumors were unfounded. After being ousted from his own company under mysterious circumstances, it is clear that there was no wrongdoing on Sam’s part, as confirmed by the board. However, there is a significant deviation in the views of Sam and the board regarding the future of Artificial Intelligence.

While both Sam Altman and Greg Brockman believe that AI will propel humanity forward, the rest of the board takes a more cautious approach, expressing concerns about the potential risks associated with advancing AI technology too quickly.

According to the most recent official statement, Sam Altman has joined forces with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to oversee a research team dedicated to advancing AI. In a tweet, Satya Nadella expressed his excitement about having Sam on board as the CEO of this new group, emphasizing their commitment to setting a new standard for innovation.

Greg Brockman, the President and Co-Founder of OpenAI was told due to his crucial role and importance to the company that he’d be staying on with the team. However, Greg did not appreciate the betrayal displayed by the rest of the board towards their former CEO, Sam Altman. Instead, he decided to leave OpenAI on the same day and join Sam at Microsoft to continue working together.

To recap, during a Google Meet conference call on November 17th, the board dismissed Sam Altman. The initial plan was for Greg Brockman to step down and report to a newly appointed CEO, but as we can see, that did not go as planned. The interim CEO, Mira Murati, was later replaced by Emmet Shear, the co-founder of Twitch.

Based on my previous reports, it appears that Altman, being the ambitious entrepreneur he is, is extremely determined to advance artificial intelligence at an accelerated pace. This has raised real concerns among the board members. However, the recent appointment of CEO Emmet Shear seems to have addressed these concerns, as his beliefs about prioritizing the well-being of humanity by regulating the AI industry align with theirs.

Employee letter to OpenAI board

Just one day after the board dismissed Sam, over 505 staff members at OpenAI, accounting for 66% of the company’s employees, wrote and signed a letter demanding his return or they would leave and follow him to Microsoft. This level of dedication is truly remarkable. Furthermore, rumors are circulating that not only the employees but also the investors want Sam back as CEO. Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, spoke to Bloomberg and highlighted how Microsoft’s diversified tech stacks allow them to attract top talent and innovators like Sam and Greg. He also emphasized that regardless of Sam’s location, be it at Microsoft or leading OpenAI, they will continue in their partnership towards advancing artificial intelligence.