The board of directors of OpenAI announced this Friday by surprise the sudden dismissal due to loss of trust of Sam Altman, whom it accuses of not having been sincere with the firm. Altman ceases to be CEO and leaves the board of directors. Mira Murati, Chief Technology Officer, will serve as interim CEO while a permanent replacement is sought.
“Mr. Altman’s departure follows a deliberative review process by the board, which concluded that he was not always truthful in his communications with the board, hindering his ability to exercise his responsibilities. “The board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI,” the firm says in a statement creator of ChatGPT, which has exposed the world to the power of generative artificial intelligence. Greg Brockman, who helped Altman found OpenAI, will also step down as chairman, although he will remain in his role at the company, reporting to the CEO.
The success of ChatGPT, launched on November 30, 2022, almost a year ago, has opened a race in which all technology giants are stepping on the accelerator in search of developing their own generative artificial intelligence tools and applications. Altman became the calling card of OpenAI and ChatGPT. He was the person who put a face to the rise of artificial intelligence. There was no forum to which he was not invited. He visited the White House, appeared before the United States Congress and on international trips he also met with rulers and authorities as an ambassador of artificial intelligence. This same week he participated in a technology forum in San Francisco on the occasion of the visit of the president of China, Xi Jinping.
In the statement released this Friday, the council emphasizes that OpenAI was deliberately structured to advance the mission that artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity and assures that it remains fully committed to this mission. “We appreciate Sam’s many contributions to the founding and growth of OpenAI. At the same time, we believe that new leadership is necessary as we move forward,” he indicates. Altman founded Open AI
The company does not explain what caused the loss of confidence in Altman. The company was immersed in a share placement in which it aspired to a valuation close to $90 billion. The shares to be placed were not from a financing round through a capital increase, but would come from those held by the company’s employees, who would achieve enormous capital gains with the operation. Huge profits would also be made on the paper by Microsoft, which controls 49% of the capital and which agreed to a multimillion-dollar investment in OpenAI last January with a reference valuation of nearly $30 billion.
Provisional substitute
A member of OpenAI’s leadership team for five years, Altman’s interim replacement, Mira Murati, has played a key role in the evolution of OpenAI. She “brings a unique set of skills, understanding of company values, operations and business, and already leads the company’s research, product and security functions. Given her long track record and close involvement 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 smooth transition as she conducts a formal search for a permanent CEO”, indicates the statement.
Following the departure of Brockman and Altman, the OpenAI board consists of OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever; independent advisors Adam D’Angelo, head of Quora, and Tasha McCauley, and Helen Toner, of the Georgetown Center for Security and Emerging Technology.
The signature was founded in 2015, originally just as a nonprofit, with Sam Altman and Elon Musk as co-presidents. Musk, Altman, the chief technology officer; Former Stripe CTO Greg Brockman, investors Reid Hoffman, Jessica Livingston and Peter Thiel and firms Amazon Web Services (AWS), Infosys and YC Research pledged $1 billion in donations. In 2018, Musk left the organization and Altman decided to create the company OpenAI LP to be able to raise resources for his research.
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