Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, the artificial intelligence research company behind the popular ChatGPT model, has been fired by the board of directors on Friday, November 17, 2023. The board cited “irreconcilable differences” and “loss of confidence” in Altman’s leadership as the reasons for his dismissal.
Altman joined OpenAI in 2020 after stepping down as the president of Y Combinator, the influential startup accelerator.
However, Altman also faced criticism and controversy for some of his decisions and actions, such as:
- Exclusive partnership with Microsoft, which gave the tech giant exclusive access to some of OpenAI’s technologies.
- Expanding access to OpenAI models while ignoring social issues and risks associated with AI.
Altman’s ouster triggered a wave of resignations and protests from some of the senior researchers and employees of OpenAI, who expressed their solidarity and support for Altman. Among them were Greg Brockman, the co-founder and president of OpenAI, and Jakub Pachocki, Aleksander Madry, and Szymon Sidor, three of the leading researchers of the company.
The board of OpenAI has appointed Mira Murati, the company’s chief technology officer, will serve as interim CEO, effective immediately, and announced that it will conduct a thorough and transparent search for a permanent replacement. The board also stated that it remains committed to the vision and mission of OpenAI, and thanked Altman for his contributions and achievements.
Here are some of the reactions on Twitter:
