Monday, November 20th 2023
OpenAI Names Emmett Shear as CEO, Sam Altman Joins Microsoft and Drags Hundreds of Employees With Him
On Friday, the AI world was caught by storm as the board of directors of OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT and other AI software, fired its CEO, Sam Altman. According to multiple sources reporting the state of OpenAI, Sam Altman was stunned by the board's decision of his removal, where the company published a public statement with many remarks, primarily informing the public that "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."
After Sam Altman's leave, Greg Brockman, president and co-founder of OpenAI, announced that he was also leaving the company. Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, and other investors have stepped in to lead negotiations between the OpenAI board and Sam Altman to return to his position as the CEO of the non-profit company. However, according to The Information, Sam Altman will not be returning as the CEO, and instead, Emmett Shear will be appointed as the interim CEO of OpenAI. It is also reported that the departure of Sam Altman is now being followed by three senior researchers, Jakub Pachocki, Aleksander Madry, and Szymon Sidor, who have left the company to follow Sam Altman's next adventure. They wanted to go back to OpenAI if Mr. Altman would return; however, with Emmett Shear now being appointed as interim CEO, the company is in shambles with its senior staff employment in question.
Update 15:30 UTC: Sam Altman has joined Microsoft alongside Greg Brockman to lead Microsoft's advanced AI research efforts; additionally with hundreds of OpenAI staff wanting to do projects under Sam Altman's lead. Apparently there are 700 members of staff, and 505 of them plan to follow Mr. Altman and Mr. Brockman under Microsoft's wing.
Source:
The Information
After Sam Altman's leave, Greg Brockman, president and co-founder of OpenAI, announced that he was also leaving the company. Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, and other investors have stepped in to lead negotiations between the OpenAI board and Sam Altman to return to his position as the CEO of the non-profit company. However, according to The Information, Sam Altman will not be returning as the CEO, and instead, Emmett Shear will be appointed as the interim CEO of OpenAI. It is also reported that the departure of Sam Altman is now being followed by three senior researchers, Jakub Pachocki, Aleksander Madry, and Szymon Sidor, who have left the company to follow Sam Altman's next adventure. They wanted to go back to OpenAI if Mr. Altman would return; however, with Emmett Shear now being appointed as interim CEO, the company is in shambles with its senior staff employment in question.
43 Comments on OpenAI Names Emmett Shear as CEO, Sam Altman Joins Microsoft and Drags Hundreds of Employees With Him
I had to google this and found a site with all the data on an elevated discussion forum called 'Less Wrong' (post dated from 6 weeks ago). From what I saw there, the sister has been accusing her family of a lot of things for many years. It's also compounded by a vast array of factors (including mental illness) which don't contribute to weighted and informed discussion.
Even if it is the reason, it's not a subject to discuss on a tech forum.
Didn't take long
That hiring could also be a reaction, somethinf they might regret. Time will tell.
If Microsoft takes on all the workers who want to leave, and they have the cash to do that, the OpenAI is as good as dead.
Hope we hear more about this soon.
One feature that needs to die is AI.
What are the intentions of firing your CEO.
When the company is the hottest topic and biggest cash grab for the next decade, under the leadership of this exact CEO?
Maybe, just Maybe, IPO related?
On the one hand, "Majority owner", "owner" and "Controls" are very powerful. But on the other hand, the power of money can certainly move things in ways that break the game.
That being said: the board was comically awful at their job. They fire Sam Altman and then immediately lose the PR war with the public, and their own employees before the weekend is over. I'm not sure if the board had a good idea for firing Sam Altman, but they certainly didn't make a good case publicly about it.
far more likely egos clashed and shutkever lost the popularity contest with the workers while winning the board.
For me, I read this and the update and pretty much said, out loud, "Holy shit..."
OpenAI as has been said is effectively dead, but to have the majority of the team follow the CEO out the door to MS? Co-Pilot is about to get quite a bit better. Even though I have it turned off in my Windows 11 install. :)
They just underestimated the power of money and the influence derived from it.
OpenAI, like any company was founded to make money first and foremost - the whole non-profit thing is just a smokescreen to divert attention from that goal. My guess is that Altman and his merry band of clowns haven't been able to deliver on their promises to the OpenAI board, and he figured it was only a matter of time before they ditched him for that reason, so he engaged with Microsoft to build a contingency plan for himself. OpenAI found out and had no recourse but to give him the boot.
MS doesn't have a way to quantify the amount of BS Altman spews, since they've been shielded from it thus far by the OpenAI board - thus Altman is free to claim whatever he wants to MS, and Nadella has gone full retard with this committent to "AI" so he'll be lapping it up. It'll take a year or two for MS to figure out, just like OpenAI, that Altman is neither particularly smart nor visionary - just another Silicon Valley charlatan who's able to play politics and obfuscate the truth better than the rest of us who produce actual work - and it'll be interesting to see what happens then. But during that time, countless billions of dollars of good money will be wasted on this stupidity.