OpenAI: a look back at three days of fire in the ChatGPT house

The OpenAI series is back on track. At the end of last week, Sam Altman, co-founder and now ex-CEO of the company behind ChatGPT and Dall-E, was dismissed from his position. Incidentally, Greg Brockman, co-founder of OpenAI and former chairman of the company’s board of directors, packed his bags in protest. The interim CEO, Mira Murati, was considering rehiring the two thinking heads. But ultimately, the two men are expected to join Microsoft, while the former boss of Twitch, Emmett Shear, becomes CEO of OpenAI. A look back at three roller coaster days.

Satya Nadella takes the hand

The news broke on Monday, October 20 after a weekend of back and forth. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said Sam Altman and Greg Brockman will join Microsoft to lead a new advanced AI research team. Satya Nadella also appeared to confirm the appointment of Emmett Shear as OpenAI’s new CEO, stating that they were “looking forward to getting to know and working with Emmett Shear and the new OAI leadership team“.

“We are very excited to announce that Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, along with other colleagues, will join Microsoft to lead a new advanced AI research team. We look forward to moving quickly to provide them with the resources they need to succeed“, said Satya Nadella on X (ex-Twitter).

In a post on X, Sam Altman, quoting Nadella, acknowledged that he was joining Microsoft, and indicated that “the mission continues“.Satya Nadella provided some clues about how he envisions Altman’s role at Microsoft.”We’ve learned a lot over the years about how to give founders and innovators the space to build independent identities and cultures within Microsoft, including GitHub, Mojang Studios, and LinkedIn, and I can’t wait for you to do so. likewise.“

Sam Altman or not Sam Altman, that is the question

And yet, a few hours earlier, complete confusion reigned at OpenAI. Mira Murati, interim CEO while finding a replacement, was considering reinstating Sam Altman and Greg Brockman. Discussions were taking place with Adam D’Angelo, CEO of Quora, serving as a representative of the OpenAI board of directors.

However, board members did not support this option. Indeed, sources close to the project emphasized that “OpenAI board members seek to hire their own CEO to succeed Altman”.

At least two leaders “prominent people in the technology sector” would also have been contacted by members of the OpenAI board of directors. And the name of Emmet Shear, the ex-boss of Twitch, finally came out.

Imbroglio at OpenAI

But how did we get there? Bloomberg painted a complete picture of the situation. Sam Altman was reportedly fired from his position by board director Ilya Sutskever. The CEO was criticized for not having “not always been frank in his communications with the board of directors”.

Brad Lightcap, OpenAI’s chief operating officer, cites a communication problem as the root cause of the OpenAI co-founder’s dismissal. An internal memo he sent to OpenAI staff on Saturday, after this abrupt dismissal, reaffirms that “breakdown of communication“led to the decision, and not”malfeasance or anything related to our financial, business, security or privacy practices“, according to reports from Axios and the New York Times.

The shock was great for investors, led by Microsoft Corp. and Thrive Capital. The latter were not informed of this dismissal. And it was ultimately Microsoft which had the last word, by taking over Sam Altman and Greg Brockman.

Microsoft now has a new advanced AI research team. This announcement comes just a week after Microsoft announced that it had built its own custom AI chip. The Redmond group, however, maintains a “multi-billion dollar investment” in OpenAI, and remains the exclusive cloud partner of OpenAI. “We remain committed to our partnership with OpenAI and are confident in our product roadmap, our ability to continue to innovate with everything we announced at Microsoft Ignite, and to continue supporting our customers and partners“, said Satya Nadella.

Sources: Bloomberg, Engadget, The Verge