{"id":1204867,"date":"2023-11-20T16:57:25","date_gmt":"2023-11-20T21:57:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1204867"},"modified":"2023-11-20T16:57:25","modified_gmt":"2023-11-20T21:57:25","slug":"what-is-going-on-with-openai-and-sam-altman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1204867","title":{"rendered":"What is going on with OpenAI and Sam Altman?"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been an eventful weekend<\/a> at OpenAI\u2019s headquarters in San Francisco. In a surprise move Friday, the company\u2019s board of directors fired co-founder and CEO Sam Altman<\/a>, which set off an institutional crisis that has seen senior staff resign in protest<\/a> with nearly 700 rank-and-file employees threatening to do the same<\/a>. Now the board is facing calls for its own resignation, even after Microsoft had already swooped in to hire Altman\u2019s cohort away<\/a> for its own AI projects. Here\u2019s everything you need to know about the situation to hold your own at Thanksgiving on Thursday.<\/p>\n

How it started<\/h2>\n

Thursday, November 16<\/h3>\n

This saga began forever ago by internet standards, or last Thursday in the common parlance. Per a tweet from former-company president Greg Brockman<\/a>, that was when OpenAI\u2019s head researcher and board member, Ilya Sutskever, contacted Altman to set up a meeting the following day at noon. In that same tweet chain (posted Friday night), Brockman accused the company of informing the first interim-CEO, OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, of the upcoming firings at that time as well:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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– Last night, Sam got a text from Ilya asking to talk at noon Friday. Sam joined a Google Meet and the whole board, except Greg, was there. Ilya told Sam he was being fired and that the news was going out very soon.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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– At 12:19PM, Greg got a text from Ilya asking for a quick call. At 12:23PM, Ilya sent a Google Meet link. Greg was told that he was being removed from the board (but was vital to the company and would retain his role) and that Sam had been fired. Around the same time, OpenAI published a blog post.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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– As far as we know, the management team was made aware of this shortly after, other than Mira who found out the night prior.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Friday, November 17<\/h3>\n

Everything kicked off at that Friday noon meeting. Brockman was informed that he would be demoted \u2014 removed from the board but remain president of the company, reporting to Murati once she\u2019s installed. Barely ten minutes later, Brockman alleges, Altman was informed of his termination as the public announcement was published. Sutskever subsequently sent a company-wide email stating that \u201cChange can be scary,\u201d per The Information<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Later that afternoon, the OpenAI board along with new CEO Murati addressed a \u201cshocked<\/a>\u201d workforce in an all-hands meeting. During that meeting, Sutskever reportedly told employees the moves will ultimately \u201cmake us feel closer.”<\/p>\n

At this point, Microsoft, which just dropped a cool $10 billion into OpenAI\u2019s coffers<\/a> in January as part of a massive, multi-year investment deal with the company weighed in on the day\u2019s events. CEO Satya Nadella released the following statement:<\/p>\n

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As you saw at Microsoft Ignite this week, we\u2019re continuing to rapidly innovate for this era of AI, with over 100 announcements across the full tech stack from AI systems, models and tools in Azure, to Copilot. Most importantly, we\u2019re committed to delivering all of this to our customers while building for the future. 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 roadmap; 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.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

By Friday evening, things really began to spiral. Brockman announced via Twitter<\/a> that he quit in protest. Director of research Jakub Pachocki and head of preparedness Aleksander Madry announced that they too were resigning in solidarity.<\/p>\n

How it\u2019s going<\/h2>\n

Saturday\/Sunday, November 18\/19<\/h3>\n

On Saturday, November 18, the backtracking begins. Altman\u2019s Friday termination notice states that, \u201cMr. Altman\u2019s 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. The board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI.\u201d<\/p>\n

The following morning, OpenAI COO Brad Lightcap wrote in internal communications obtained by Axios<\/em><\/a> that the decision \u201ctook [the management team] by surprise\u201d and that management had been in conversation \u201cwith the board to try to better understand the reasons and process behind their decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can say definitively that the board\u2019s decision was not made in response to malfeasance or anything related to our financial, business, safety, or security\/privacy practices,\u201d Lightcap wrote. \u201cThis was a breakdown in communication between Sam and the board \u2026 We still share your concerns about how the process has been handled, are working to resolve the situation, and will provide updates as we\u2019re able.\u201d<\/p>\n

A report from The Information<\/em><\/a> midmorning Saturday revealed that OpenAI\u2019s prospective share sale being led by Thrive Capital, valued at $86 billion, is in jeopardy following Altman\u2019s firing. Per three unnamed sources within the company, even if the sale does go through, it will likely be at a lower valuation. The price of OpenAI shares has tripled since the start of the year, and quadrupled since 2021, so current and former employees, many of whom were offered stock as hiring incentives, were in line for a big payout. A payout might not be coming anymore.<\/p>\n

On Saturday afternoon, Altman announced on Twitter<\/a> that he would be forming a new AI startup with Brockman\u2019s assistance, potentially doing something with AI chips<\/a> to counter NVIDIA\u2019s dominance in the sector<\/a>. At this point OpenAI\u2019s many investors, rightly concerned that their money was about to go up in generative smoke<\/a>, began pressuring the board of directors to reinstate Altman and Brockman<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n
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We remain committed to our partnership with OpenAI and have confidence in our product roadmap, our ability to continue to innovate with everything we announced at Microsoft Ignite, and in continuing to support our customers and partners. We look forward to getting to know Emmett\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2014 Satya Nadella (@satyanadella) November 20, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Microsoft\u2019s Satya Nadella reportedly led that charge. Bloomberg\u2019s<\/em> sources say Nadella was \u201cfurious<\/a>\u201d over the decision to oust Altman \u2014 especially having been given just \u201ca few minutes\u201d of notice before the public announcement was made \u2014 even going so far as to recruit Altman and his cohort for their own AI efforts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Microsoft also has leverage in the form of its investment, much of which is in the form of cloud compute credits (which the GPT platform needs to operate) rather than hard currency. Denying those credits to OpenAI would effectively hobble the startup\u2019s operations.<\/p>\n

Interim-CEO Mira Murati\u2019s 48-hour tenure at the head of OpenAI came to an end on Sunday when the board named Twitch co-founder Emmett Shear as the new interim-CEO. According to Bloomberg<\/em> reporter Ashley Vance<\/a>, Murati had planned to hire Altman and Brockman back in a move designed to force the board of directors into action. Instead, the board \u201cwent into total silence\u201d and \u201cfound their own CEO Emmett Shear.\u201d Altman spent Sunday at OpenAI HQ<\/a>, posting an image of himself holding up a green \u201cGuest\u201d badge.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst and last time i ever wear one of these,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

Monday, November 20<\/h3>\n

On Monday morning, an open letter from more than 500 OpenAI employees<\/a> circulated online. The group threatened to quit and join the new Microsoft subsidiary<\/a> unless the board itself resigns and brings back Altman and Brockman (and presumably the other two as well). The number of signatories has since grown to nearly 700<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Breaking: 505 of 700 employees @OpenAI<\/a> tell the board to resign. pic.twitter.com\/M4D0RX3Q7a<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Kara Swisher (@karaswisher) November 20, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

It doesn\u2019t look like that will be happening, however \u2014 despite Sutskever\u2019s early morning mea culpa<\/a>. The board has already missed its deadline to respond to the open letter, Microsoft has already hired away both Altman and Brockman and Shear has already been named interim-CEO.<\/p>\n

Shear stepped down as CEO of Twitch in March, where he led the company for more than 16 years and has been working as a partner at Y Combinator for the past seven months. Amazon acquired the live video streaming app in 2014 for just under $1 billion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI took this job because I believe that OpenAI is one of the most important companies currently in existence. When the board shared the situation and asked me to take the role, I did not make the decision lightly,\u201d Shear told OpenAI employees Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately I felt that I had a duty to help if I could,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Shear was quick to point out that Altman\u2019s termination was \u201chandled very badly, which has seriously damaged our trust.\u201d As such he announced the company will hire an independent investigator to report on the run-up to Friday\u2019s SNAFU.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe board did *not* remove Sam over any specific disagreement on safety, their reasoning was completely different from that,\u201d Shear continued. \u201cI\u2019m not crazy enough to take this job without board support for commercializing our awesome models.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following his departure to Microsoft on Monday, Altman posted<\/a>, \u201cthe OpenAI leadership team, particularly mira brad and jason but really all of them, have been doing an incredible job through this that will be in the history books.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIncredibly proud of them,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https:\/\/www.engadget.com\/what-is-going-on-with-openai-and-sam-altman-215725312.html?src=rss
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\nSource: Engadget – What is going on with OpenAI and Sam Altman?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been an eventful weekend at OpenAI\u2019s headquarters in San Francisco. In a surprise move Friday, the company\u2019s board of directors fired co-founder and CEO Sam Altman, which set off an institutional crisis that has seen senior staff resign in … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[99,110],"tags":[98],"class_list":["post-1204867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-engadget","category-unfiltered-rss","tag-engadget"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1204867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1204867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1204867\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1204867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1204867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1204867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}