Business Desk, Delhi Magazine: OpenAI, the organization behind ChatGPT, announced the removal of co-founder and CEO Sam Altman due to a lack of confidence from the board. Altman has resigned from his position, and this decision was disclosed on Friday.
Mira Murati, Chief Technology Officer (CTO), will serve as the interim CEO, while the company initiates the search for a permanent CEO. Additionally, Greg Brockman, the company president, has stepped down. The request for Altman’s departure reportedly occurred during a Google Meet.
OpenAI, headquartered in San Francisco, is a private research laboratory specializing in artificial intelligence. Originally founded as a non-profit named Argon System in 2015 by Altman, Elon Musk (no longer on OpenAI’s board), and others.
Altman, reflecting on his departure, shared on the social media platform X, ‘I loved my time at OpenAI, which was transformative personally and hopefully for the world. Collaborating with brilliant scientists was truly rewarding. Speculation abounds regarding what comes next.'”
i loved my time at openai. it was transformative for me personally, and hopefully the world a little bit. most of all i loved working with such talented people.
will have more to say about what’s next later.
🫡
— Sam Altman (@sama) November 17, 2023
OpenAI Co-Founders Express Surprise Over Decision
The removal of Sam Altman from OpenAI has left co-founders, including President Greg Brockman, shocked and saddened. In a statement on X, Brockman shared their sentiments:
‘Sam and I are shocked and saddened by what the board did today. Firstly, a heartfelt thank you to everyone we’ve collaborated with at OpenAI, including our customers, investors, and those who have reached out to us.
Sam and I are shocked and saddened by what the board did today.
Let us first say thank you to all the incredible people who we have worked with at OpenAI, our customers, our investors, and all of those who have been reaching out.
We too are still trying to figure out exactly…
— Greg Brockman (@gdb) November 18, 2023
We’re currently in the process of understanding the details surrounding this decision.
Here’s what we know so far:
- Last night, Sam received a text from Alya requesting a Friday noon discussion. Sam attended the Google Meet, where the entire board, except for me, was present. Ilya informed Sam of his termination, and news of it was expected to be made public shortly.
- At 12:19 pm, I received a text from Ilya asking for an immediate call. By 12:23 pm, Ilya sent the Google Meet link. I was informed about my removal from the board but not from the company, while Sam was terminated. Simultaneously, OpenAI released a blog post.
- To our knowledge, the management team was promptly notified, and Meera was made aware the night before.
Please refrain from worrying. We are confident that we will weather this storm, and exciting developments are on the horizon.