ChatGPT owner OpenAI sacks CEO, chairman quits

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT and DALL-E, has sacked chief executive and co-founder Sam Altman, in a move that caused fellow founder and company chairman and president Greg Brockman to quit the business.

The turmoil started on Thursday when OpenAI announced Mr Altman would depart as CEO and leave the board of directors after losing its confidence due issues about how “candid” he had been in his communications with them.
 

“Mr Altman’s departure follows a deliberative review process by the board, which concluded that he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities,” a statement from the firm said.

“The board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI.”

The statement also said that Mr Brockman would be stepping down as chairman of the board but would will remain in his role as president of the company, reporting to interim CEO Mira Murati, the company’s former chief technology officer.
 

But on Friday, Mr Brockman revealed he, too, would be leaving the firm.

In a post on X, Mr Brockman shared the message he sent to OpenAI staff about his decision to quit.

“I’m super proud of what we’ve all built together since starting in my apartment eight years ago,” he wrote.

“We’ve been through tough and great times together, accomplishing so much despite all the reasons it should have been impossible. But based on today’s news, I quit. Genuinely wishing you all nothing but the best.”Learn More
 

OpenAI was founded by Mr Altman, Mr Brockman, Reid Hoffman, Jessica Livingston, Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Amazon Web Services, Infosys and YC Research as a non-profit in 2015, with a mission to ensure artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity.

But in 2019 it was restructured to a for-profit company in order to raise capital to allow it to grow.
 

if i start going off, the openai board should go after me for the full value of my shares

— Sam Altman (@sama) November 18, 2023

Microsoft became a major investor, putting around $US13 billion ($20 billion) into the company and owns 49 per cent of it.

Mr Altman was the public face of the company and had achieved superstar status in AI circles.
 

Tech watchers have taken to social media to share theories about what’s really going on behind the scenes at OpenAI, with a coup by Microsoft a top contender.

“I’d bet money this was a power-grab by Microsoft to take full control over the tech because they know it’s going to completely disrupt the world in a very similar way to smartphones or the internet,” one wrote.

“This seems like a set up for MS to buy them up,” wrote another.
 

In a statement, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said, “We have a long-term agreement with OpenAI with full access to everything we need to deliver on our innovation agenda and an exciting product road map; and remain committed to our partnership, and to Mira and the team. Together, we will continue to deliver the meaningful benefits of this technology to the world.”

When it was released in late 2022, ChatGPT took the world by storm.

In recent months Mr Altman has been active in attempting to shape regulators’ responses to AI, appearing at US congressional hearings and meeting personally with world leaders such as US President Joe Biden, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron.