OpenAI experienced particularly troubled days with the surprise departure followed by the express return of Sam Altman. We remind you of everything that has happened since last Friday!
Everything seemed to be going well at OpenAI in recent months, with ChatGPT becoming ever more efficient. The AI had in fact benefited from a major update during Dev Day in early November with features that would further increase its popularity. In short, everything was going well until the surprise announcement, a week ago, of the sudden dismissal of its CEO Sam Altman!
The Friday of astonishment
It was news that seemed to come out of nowhere. Last Friday, the world learned that OpenAI had decided to part ways with its boss Sam Altman, following a small coup d’état formalized by the board of directors, in one of those power operations of which the Americans have the secret .
In charge, the company’s scientific head Ilya Sutskever, who had warned Sam Altman the day before this meeting, without telling him what awaited him. Few details then filtered out on the reasons for this sentence. We barely learned the next day that the board of directors had “ concluded that [Sam Altman] had not always been frank in his communications with the board of directors. »
Saturday, Greg Brockman follows
Proof that the decision was the result of reflection carried out in secret, number 2 Greg Brockman followed Sam Altman the next day and announced his resignation. He was then the only member of the council not to have been invited to the meeting during which Sam Altman’s dismissal was notified to him.
Here again, the public remained in the dark about the reasons for Sam Altman’s ouster. Greg Brockman did not give details of this event, nor did he give reasons for his resignation in the message he then posted on personal loyalty to its CEO.
Sunday, the tech transfer window
On Sunday, things got tougher. While Sam Altman’s departure was already very surprising, rumors began to spread on the web talking about… his possible return! Because after two days, the tech world was incomprehensible about this decision, about which OpenAI had not communicated.
But ultimately it was just a flash in the pan. The OpenAI board of directors clearly did not want to change its mind, despite the media hubbub. After a two-day interim period provided by Mira Murati, the co-founder of the Twitch platform Emmett Shear was appointed to take the helm of OpenAI. A man known for some noisy statements, but also for his desire to reduce the pace of development of artificial intelligence.
For his part, Sam Altman was not alone for very long. With such a unique background in the technology that is sure to most disrupt our lives in the decades to come, he was clearly a value not to be missed. And who better to know than Microsoft, OpenAI’s historic partner? Barely made redundant, the thirty-year-old found a position within the firm founded by Bill Gates, where he was called upon to lead a team specializing in AI.
Monday, the employee revolt
And it was again Microsoft that was to be talked about in the days to come. Indeed, earlier this week, almost all OpenAI employees signed a letter in which they urged the board to reverse its decision. They thus demanded not only the return of Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, but also the resignation of the entire board, and the appointment of two independent directors.
And to show that they were not joking, they accompanied their demand with a threat: that of a collective resignation. They explained in fact that, in the event that they were not heard, they would simply join Microsoft, where jobs would already be ready for each of them. A piquant detail of this missive which must have deeply worried: the name of the instigator of the “coup d’état” was found among those of the signatories. Ilya Sutskever had in the meantime made amends and said he regretted his initiative.
OpenAI had all the more interest in taking the warning seriously since Microsoft had made it clear that it was open to recruiting OpenAI employees. Recruitment which was also offered under conditions allowing all newcomers to keep a salary similar to that they received within OpenAI.
Tuesday, the return of the king
After such a revolt, what could the board of directors do, if not bend the knee? The psychodrama thus ended after just a few days, with the return of Sam Altman to his position as CEO of OpenAI. Four days which will still have changed certain things in the company, as explained in the press release posted by the company to announce the end of the imbroglio.
“ We have reached an agreement in principle for Sam Altman to return to OpenAI as CEO, with a new board of directors consisting of Bret Taylor, Larry Summers and Adam D’Angelo » was thus explained, on the night of Tuesday November 22 to Wednesday November 23. Bret Taylor, who is the co-creator of Google Maps, took on the position of president and number 2 of the company for the occasion.
For his part, Emmett Shear, who was only very briefly boss of OpenAI, joked about his whirlwind stint. He posted a message on In fact, according to his own figures, he only held this position for 55 hours and 32 minutes.
Q*, the cause of a drama that we will soon hear about again?
All’s well that ends well, one might think. But these few days of waltz between OpenAI and Sam Altman were also an opportunity to learn several interesting information about the firm at the forefront in the field of artificial intelligence.
It was thus explained that the company wanted to develop in a very promising sector, that of chips adapted to the needs of artificial intelligence. A sector which, today, is totally dominated by Nvidia. Before his dismissal, Sam Altman wanted to develop a company that could compete with Nvidia, and above all supply OpenAI with these components. An ambitious, even slightly excessive, objective when we know that even major microprocessor specialists have difficulty reaching the level of the firm headed by Jensen Huang. With the new legitimacy acquired by this psychodrama, will Sam Altman want to push this project?
The other big question, and it is surely the most important, is knowing what was the reason for his dismissal. Because to date, only one serious clue has been able to inform us on the question, and that is the creation of an AI considered by OpenAI researchers as dangerous for humanity, namely Q*.
Wasn’t Sam Altman’s haste in marketing this tool the trigger for his dismissal? A dismissal which could therefore have a certain legitimacy? And wouldn’t its return to favor give it, on the contrary, free rein to move forward as quickly as possible in its development and marketing, without regard for the potential dangers?
We remember that Elon Musk was one of the rare discordant voices welcoming Ilya Sutskever, and affirming that his action must have had specific reasons. He even asked that the details of the famous meeting which led to the departure of Sam Altman be made public, in order to see if it was an ethical question related to the dangerousness of certain AI in development.
It seems that these questions will have to be put aside in the near future. OpenAI should follow the entrepreneurial wishes of Sam Altman, and try to bring to market as many technologies and functionalities as possible, which will allow the American company to finally generate revenue in the long term. Could the famous Q* AI be one of these language models that will come out of the box, to be commercialized, despite the potential dangers?
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