This could be the start of a tech thriller. Twenty-four hours after appearing on the stage of the forum of business leaders from Asia-Pacific countries, in San Francisco (California), among the greats of global business, for a speech on the future of intelligence artificial intelligence (AI), Sam Altman, the prodigy of the ChatGPT program, has been removed by the board of directors from his position as CEO of OpenAI. He co-founded this company in 2015 and brought it to a valuation of $90 billion (82 billion euros).
The brutality of the eviction sent a shock wave through Silicon Valley, due to the personality of Sam Altman, 38, who since the launch of the conversational robot ChatGPT in November 2022, has become the face of promises – and risks – of AI.
Invited to the American Congress, the European Parliament, the Elysée, Downing Street, in one year he took his place among the tech giants, alongside Bill Gates or Elon Musk, without departing from his friendly appearance or his tone generally reassuring.
In a statement, the board of directors said it had “not more confidence in ability » from the young founder to lead OpenAI. Sam Altman “Not always been candid in his communications with the council, which hindered his ability to fulfill his responsibilities,” he charged. Mira Murati, technical director of OpenAI, was chosen to act in the interim, pending the appointment of a successor.
Less than an hour later, Sam Altman reacted with a message on X: “I enjoyed my time at OpenAI. It’s been transformative for me on a personal level, and hopefully a bit for the world as well. »
Hypotheses and scenarios worthy of the “Succession” series
Neither the board of directors nor the person concerned gave details on the absence of “franchise” having given rise to such a resounding departure. Sam Altman only indicated that he would have “more to say” later on what he plans to do. Billionaire thanks to investments made while he led the prestigious incubator Y Combinator − after dropping out of Stanford and selling his first start-up − Sam Altman does not own shares in OpenAI, originally founded as a company non-profit.
In November 2022, the launch of ChatGPT kicked off a race in AI between Amazon, Google, Facebook and Microsoft. In January of this year, Microsoft announced a $10 billion investment in OpenAI, with the aim of eventually owning 49% of the company. After the announcement of Sam Altman’s departure, which came before the close of the stock market, CEO Satya Nadella wanted to reassure the markets. “We have a long-term agreement with OpenAI, he recalled. We remain committed to our partnership, as well as to Mira [Murati] and the whole team. »
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