The ongoing upheaval at OpenAI has reached new heights with the sudden removal of its founder, Sam Altman, on November 17, causing a ripple effect throughout the artificial intelligence (AI) company.
In the wake of Altman’s ousting, three senior researchers have reportedly chosen to resign from their positions.
The decision to remove Altman from his role as CEO was officially announced in a blog post by OpenAI’s board of directors.
They cited Altman’s alleged lack of consistent transparency in his communications with the board as the primary reason for his removal, asserting that this hindered the board’s ability to fulfill its responsibilities.
Consequently, Mira Murati, the company’s chief technology officer, has assumed the role of interim CEO.
This significant change in leadership set off a chain reaction within OpenAI, resulting in key figures departing from the organization.
Co-founder and president Greg Brockman made his exit public mere hours after Altman’s removal.
Several senior staff members have also reportedly tendered their resignations, including Jakub Pachocki, the director of research; Aleksander Madry, the head of preparedness; and Szymon Sidor, a senior researcher.
Additionally, one employee, Alex Cohen, found himself laid off alongside Altman.
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Cohen, responsible for preparing presentations for OpenAI’s board of directors, expressed his confusion over the situation, revealing that he received a cryptic text message from Sam Altman before his abrupt dismissal.
This unexpected turn of events has left many speculating about the future of OpenAI, with Cohen predicting that more employees may follow suit and seek new opportunities elsewhere.
The decision to remove Altman from his leadership role is believed to have arisen from disagreements with Ilya Sutskever, co-founder and chief scientist at OpenAI.
These disagreements appear to revolve around issues related to fundraising and the development of AI technologies.
As for Altman’s future endeavors, they remain uncertain in the wake of these recent developments.
Altman is also a founder of Tools for Humanity, a developer involved in the crypto project Worldcoin.
He has received invitations to join other projects, including one from Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano, who has extended an offer for Altman to join the ecosystem’s decentralized large language model.
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