This is not investment advice. The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Wccftech.com has a disclosure and ethics policy.
22.11.2023 - 07:21 / venturebeat.com / Sam Altman / Mira Murati / Greg Brockman
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OpenAI has rotated through four CEOs in five days. I think that qualifies as the craziest five days in Silicon Valley history. Now fired CEO Sam Altman is back as the CEO of OpenAI again.
When the OpenAI board first fired Sam Altman as its CEO on the Friday before Thanksgiving, it might have thought the news would be quiet. It is, after all, one of the quietest news days of the business year. It named CTO Mira Murati as its new interim CEO.
But a storm erupted on social media. No one understood why the board would fire what seemed to be a popular CEO who helped trigger the generative AI revolution just a year ago with the release of ChatGPT. That made it seem like the board that fired Steve Jobs from Apple.
On its face, the OpenAI firing seemed to me like one of the worst board moves of all time. Of course, Jobs was pretty unpopular at the time he was fired by CEO John Sculley and Apple was struggling in the market. It took years for Jobs to gain back his role as CEO of Apple, after he had matured as a leader.
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Still, the comparison could be made that it made no sense to fire someone who was changing the world. Employees and other allies of Altman unsuccessfully tried to reinstate him over the weekend.
Then on Sunday the OpenAI board named Emmett Shear as its new interim CEO, immediately demoting Murati back to her earlier role. The board went through a few candidates before it found one that said yes, and then it turned out that Shear had a lot of publicly available tweets that were pretty questionable.
Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, stepped in personally over the weekend and hired Altman and colleague Greg Brockman to establish an AI research arm with as many people from the OpenAI team who would join him. Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, swooped in to try to entice OpenAI employees to join an AI think tank at his firm.
<p lang=«en» dir=«ltr» xml:lang=«en»>Salesforce will match any OpenAI researcher who has tendered their resignation full cash & equity OTE to immediately join our Salesforce Einstein Trusted AI research team under Silvio Savarese. Send me your cv directly to [email protected]. Einstein is the most successful… pic.twitter.com/ubHzy3NWjGBy Monday, Ilya Sutsever tweeted that he deeply regretted his participation in the board’s actions in firing Altman, saying he never intended to harm OpenAI. He doesn’t mention that he is on the board. Hmmm. Nobody seemed to be a big fan of Shear.
This is not investment advice. The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Wccftech.com has a disclosure and ethics policy.
Artificial intelligence (AI) has become the buzzword of 2023, with the world's biggest companies launching their suite of AI services not just for consumers, but for businesses as well. While AI technology has been growing for some time, it is safe to say that this revolution really kicked off when OpenAI launched its AI chatbot ChatGPT in November 2022. Since then, rapid advancements have taken place in the field, with companies like Microsoft and Google releasing their AI services. AI for business has also become highly sought after, with companies leveraging the new tech to grow their business and offer more services to consumers. However, OpenAI Chief Operating Officer Brad Lightcap thinks this technology is overhyped. He also revealed some details about the shock resignation and the eventual return of CEO Sam Altman.
In a recent turn of events, Sam Altman, co-founder of OpenAI, has reclaimed his position as the CEO of OpenAI after a tumultuous episode involving his shocking initial dismissal and subsequent reinstatement. The lingering question that has stayed in many people's minds is the reason behind this unexpected sequence of events. During an interview with The Verge, Altman addressed this query and more. While refraining from disclosing the initial cause of his dismissal, he expressed his joy at rejoining the company. Altman emphasised that the matter is still under investigation, urging that such questions should be directed to the OpenAI board rather than himself.
OpenAI has been through a lot of dramatic changes over these past few weeks with the board members firing the company CEO Sam Altman. While the feud did not last long and Altman eventually made his way back as OpenAI CEO, the company has made significant changes in their board with three new members and Microsoft is also getting a seat on the board, however, as a silent member. Check Microsoft's role in the OpenAI board and how it will function to ensure the company's success.
The five-day drama, which showcased the firing of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and then reinstating him as the company’s Chief Executive, is just another example of how haywire the realm of Silicon Valley can be. However, Altman’s firing was not due to him maintaining a rebellious attitude with the board but due to an AI breakthrough discovery by OpenAI researchers that could potentially be dangerous to humanity.
It's been quite a week for ChatGPT-maker OpenAI — and co-founder Sam Altman.
Unlike Google, Facebook and other tech giants, the company behind ChatGPT was not created to be a business. It was set up as a nonprofit by founders who hoped that it wouldn't be beholden to commercial interests.
OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman is to return as CEO of the company, mere days after his chaotic firing by a board that seems to have lost all support. A deal has been reached «in principle» for his return that will see new board members appointed, and the agreement comes shortly after Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella had essentially checkmated OpenAI by offering Altman a job and guaranteeing the role and salary of any OpenAI staff that wished to join him.
Sam Altman and members of the OpenAI board have opened negotiations aimed at a possible return of the ousted co-founder and chief executive officer to the artificial intelligence company, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
This is not investment advice. The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Wccftech.com has a disclosure and ethics policy.
Following a surprise ouster, OpenAI co-founder and former CEO Sam Altman joined Microsoft as the head of artificial intelligence research along with the ChatGPT maker's former President Greg Brockman and other staff. The developments come less than a year after OpenAI kicked off the generative AI frenzy with the launch of viral chatbot ChatGPT and bagged Microsoft as an investor, among other big names.
Following the removal of Sam Altman as the OpenAI CEO, the path to pick the right candidate to fill the position was not easy for the board members and they looked to be in an unseemly rush. Soon after the firing, Mira Murati joined as the interim CEO, however, after the news of Altman joining Microsoft was announced, the employees, including Murati, wanted to reinstate Sam Altman and they threatened mass resignations from the company. But to everyone's shock, he refused to come back unless the OpenAI board of directors were sacked.