Founders firing co-founders is part of the lore of Silicon Valley. But it’s a big deal for one of the world’s leading AI companies to get rid of a prominent face. In a statement, Microsoft-backed OpenAI said it “decided to transition leadership to Mira Murati, the company’s chief technology officer, due to Sam Altman’s inconsistent and non-candid communication with the board of directors, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities.”
The news sent shockwaves through the tech community, with many questioning what might have happened. Altman was widely seen as the face of the company and had just delivered the keynote at its first Dev Day conference, announcing a suite of new upgrades for the ChatGPT software. He was also on a panel at the APEC CEO Summit on Thursday.
In a post on the official X (formerly Twitter) account, Mr Brockman said he was “shocked and saddened” by what happened. He added that he had received a text from Ilya asking to talk at noon Friday, and when he joined the Google Meet, he was informed that the board was terminating his contract.
According to Ilya, the decision had been made in a “deliberative process,” and there was no “personal animus or disagreement with Sam or anyone else at the company.” He said he and Sam were working together to determine what had happened.
It would be easy to assume that the decision was taken in a dispute over money, with accusations of mismanagement and overspending abound. However, there may be something deeper at play.
A source told Bloomberg that a rift had opened between the board and Altman over “differences of opinion on advancing the company’s mission.” This could reference disagreements over whether it should aim for profit in the future or work towards an ethical AI future.
Despite the sudden move, most of the board will stay on, and the search for a new CEO is still underway. The current members are Ilya Sutskever, who is also the company’s co-founder, Quora CEO Adam D’Angelo, Tasha McCauley of GeoSim Systems, and Helen Toner, the director of strategy at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology.
Investors were shocked by the announcement, with some venture capital firms saying they only learned of the decision a minute before it went public. Even Microsoft, which committed $10 billion to the organization, was caught off guard. The surprise firing has sparked speculation on social media and the press, with many wondering why the decision was made so quickly. It’s also worth noting that this is the second time in two years that the board has fired a co-founder. In 2018, Elon Musk left his position as co-chair to avoid a conflict of interest with Tesla. He has since started his own AI company, XAI.
