Staff at OpenAI have called on the board of the company to resign following the unexpected removal of the former CEO, Sam Altman.
In a letter, they challenge the board’s competency, accusing it of undermining the firm’s work. Senior staff, including some prominent figures, have signed the letter.
The dismissal of Mr. Altman on Friday, a key figure in artificial intelligence (AI), sent shockwaves through the tech world.
One of the board members involved in the dismissal, OpenAI’s chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, publicly acknowledged making a mistake on X, formerly Twitter.
“Now I deeply regret my participation in the board’s actions. I never intended to harm OpenAI. I love everything we’ve built together and I will do everything I can to reunite the company”, he posted.
Mr. Sutskever, who sits on the board, has endorsed the letter seeking the dismissal of the board.
In a rapidly unfolding and chaotic sequence of events over the weekend, there was a momentary suggestion that Mr. Altman might be reinstated, only for it to be revealed that he would be joining Microsoft, a significant supporter of OpenAI.
Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, announced on X that Mr. Altman would be heading “a new advanced AI research team.”
Meanwhile, former Twitch CEO Emmett Shear will assume the role of OpenAI’s interim CEO.
Writing on X, he called the job a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity”.
But he added the way Mr. Altman had been sacked was “handled very badly” and “seriously damaged our trust”.
Mr. Altman, aged 38, played a key role in the establishment of the firm, renowned for its creation of the widely-used ChatGPT bot, and has emerged as a prominent figure in the rapidly advancing field of generative artificial intelligence (AI).
The unexpected dismissal of such a prominent figure left industry observers astonished and provoked frustration among many within the company he helmed, ultimately leading to their call for the resignation of board members.
In response to the announcement from Microsoft’s CEO, Mr. Nadella, confirming his new position, and preceding the release of the letter, Mr. Altman shared the sentiment ‘the mission continues.’
‘Embarrassing circus’
Dan Ives from investment firm Wedbush Securities suggests that Microsoft has emerged stronger from the situation, while the incident has cast a negative light on OpenAI.
They were “at the kid’s poker table and thought they won until Nadella and Microsoft took this all over in a World Series of Poker move for the ages”, he wrote.
“The embarrassing circus show over the weekend at OpenAI was finally taken over by the adults in the room.”
Emmett Shear, OpenAI’s new leader, previously served as the head and co-founder of the video streaming service Twitch. A memo to OpenAI’s staff highlighted his “unique mix of skills, expertise, and relationships that will drive OpenAI forward”.
Despite now leading one of the world’s most influential AI companies and describing himself as a “techno-optimist,” Mr. Shear has voiced concerns about the potential existential threat posed by the technology.
“It’s like someone invented a way to make 10x [ten times] more powerful fusion bombs out of sand and bleach, that anyone could do at home”, he told the Logan Bartlett Show podcast in June.
The board’s precise reasons for dismissing Mr. Altman are still unclear.
On Friday, when OpenAI revealed the termination of Mr. Altman, it accused him of not being “consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities.” However, the specific details of what he allegedly failed to be candid about were not specified.
Mr. Shear has offered some clarification on the matter.
“The board did *not* remove Sam over any specific disagreement on safety, their reasoning was completely different from that. I’m not crazy enough to take this job without board support for commercializing our awesome models”, he wrote on X.
The reference to safety implies that the disagreement may not have centered on the handling of AI-related risks, although the wording is subject to interpretation.
Nevertheless, Mr. Shear has pledged to enlist an independent investigator “to thoroughly examine the entire process.”