NewsMicrosoft, ChatGPT, OpenAI, Sam Altman
Nov 20, 2023 08:41 PM EST
The business that built ChatGPT was thrown into disarray Monday after Microsoft recruited its dismissed CEO and several staff vowed to join him in a disagreement over how to construct artificial intelligence smarter than humans.
The revelations came after a weekend of drama in the AI sector that rocked the field and fanned uncertainty about the future of OpenAI, which announced a new CEO on Friday and then removed her on Sunday.
The company's new CEO has committed to look into the sacking of co-founder and CEO Sam Altman, who was pivotal in OpenAI's evolution from a nonprofit research laboratory to a world-renowned commercial firm that ushered in the era of generative artificial intelligence.
Microsoft, a close collaborator and investor in the firm, announced that Altman and OpenAI's previous president, Greg Brockman, would oversee its new advanced AI research team. Brockman, another co-founder of OpenAI, resigned in protest after Altman was sacked.
In an open letter to OpenAI's four-member board, hundreds of OpenAI workers, including other senior executives, threatened to join them at Microsoft, calling for the board's resignation and Altman's return.
Altman was fired by OpenAI on Friday after an investigation found him to be "not consistently candid in his communications" with the board of directors, which had lost faith in his capacity to run the firm.
Emmett Shear, OpenAI's new interim CEO, said in an X post Monday that he would appoint an independent investigator to investigate into Altman's dismissal and produce a report within 30 days.
The board's decision to fire Altman was not based on a "specific disagreement on safety," and the board does not reject the commercialization of AI models, according to Shear.
Last Monday, OpenAI declined to comment on Altman's apparent lack of openness. According to the company's statement, his actions was impeding the board's ability to carry out its duties.
Ilya Sutskever, co-founder, chief scientist, and board member of OpenAI, expressed sorrow for his involvement in the removal.
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The open letter went viral on Monday. The number of signatures received equal to a majority of the company's 770 employees.
According to the letter, following Altman's termination, the business's surviving management team requested that the board resign and be replaced with a "qualified board" capable of stabilizing the company. According to the letter, the board opposed and stated that allowing OpenAI to be dismantled would be consistent with its objective.
Since its inception in 2015, OpenAI has said that its mission is to improve AI in a way that benefits all humankind. A corporate spokeswoman acknowledged that the letter was received by the board.
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