Employees want their boss back
Sam Altman is negotiating a lightning comeback at OpenAI
November 21, 2023, 9:58 p.m
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What a volte: Just a few days after his removal as head of OpenAI, Sam Altman is in talks about returning to ChatGPT developer. Otherwise, the majority of the workforce threatens to be fired. In addition, the allegations against him are rather specious.
According to a media report, the next surprising twist is emerging in the tug of war over the future of ChatGPT developer OpenAI. The boss Sam Altman, who was forced out on Friday, is in talks with the board of directors about returning to the company, financial service Bloomberg reported. It was previously announced that Altman was going to OpenAI investor Microsoft to set up a research department. However, around 700 of OpenAI’s 770 employees threatened to follow him – which would effectively mean the end of the company.
Microsoft boss Satya Nadella appeared open to various solutions in TV interviews on Monday. People will work with Altman no matter where he is. According to Bloomberg, under one scenario Altman could return as a member of a new interim board of directors.
Altman was forced out of the top job at the company he co-founded on Friday. It was said he had not been honest in his communication with the board. But OpenAI never gave any details. According to Bloomberg, the tech manager Emmett Shear, who was appointed interim boss, has now requested information about what exactly Altman is accused of.
Former adversary defects
According to media reports, a dispute over direction at OpenAI led to Altman’s departure. Some executives, such as technology chief Ilya Sutskever, were of the opinion that Altman wanted to bring the artificial intelligence software to market too quickly and with too commercial an approach. They got the majority of the board of directors on their side. In the meantime, Sutskever also switched to Altman’s camp and publicly regretted his involvement in his dismissal.
OpenAI was founded in 2015 as a non-profit organization – with the mission to develop artificial intelligence in the interests of everyone. However, when it became clear that donations would not raise the necessary billions in investments, a for-profit company was formed with Altman at the helm. Among other things, he brought Microsoft on board as an investor, thereby securing OpenAI’s access to the necessary computing power. However, the conflict between the two approaches became ever deeper.
The chatbot ChatGPT can formulate sentences at the linguistic level of a human. Its publication around a year ago sparked AI hype. OpenAI has thus become a pioneer in the technology. Microsoft entered into a multi-billion dollar pact with the company to bring its technology into the company’s products. Other tech heavyweights such as Google, Amazon and the Facebook group Meta presented competing software.