OpenAI Names Emmett Shear as CEO, Sam Altman Joins Microsoft and Drags Hundreds of Employees With Him

[AleksandarK]

On Friday, the AI world was caught by storm as the board of directors of OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT and other AI software, fired its CEO, Sam Altman. According to multiple sources reporting the state of OpenAI, Sam Altman was stunned by the board's decision of his removal, where the company published a public statement with many remarks, primarily informing the public that "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. The board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI."

After Sam Altman's leave, Greg Brockman, president and co-founder of OpenAI, announced that he was also leaving the company. Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, and other investors have stepped in to lead negotiations between the OpenAI board and Sam Altman to return to his position as the CEO of the non-profit company. However, according to The Information, Sam Altman will not be returning as the CEO, and instead, Emmett Shear will be appointed as the interim CEO of OpenAI. It is also reported that the departure of Sam Altman is now being followed by three senior researchers, Jakub Pachocki, Aleksander Madry, and Szymon Sidor, who have left the company to follow Sam Altman's next adventure. They wanted to go back to OpenAI if Mr. Altman would return; however, with Emmett Shear now being appointed as interim CEO, the company is in shambles with its senior staff employment in question.



Update 15:30 UTC: Sam Altman has joined Microsoft alongside Greg Brockman to lead Microsoft's advanced AI research efforts; additionally with hundreds of OpenAI staff wanting to do projects under Sam Altman's lead. Apparently there are 700 members of staff, and 505 of them plan to follow Mr. Altman and Mr. Brockman under Microsoft's wing.

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[DeathtoGnomes]

it sounds like there is some shenanigans going on behind closed doors.

 

[Mesatla]

Is it because of the rape allegations recently made by his sister?

 

[the54thvoid]

Is it because of the rape allegations recently made by his sister?

They're not recent.

I had to google this and found a site with all the data on an elevated discussion forum called 'Less Wrong' (post dated from 6 weeks ago). From what I saw there, the sister has been accusing her family of a lot of things for many years. It's also compounded by a vast array of factors (including mental illness) which don't contribute to weighted and informed discussion.

Even if it is the reason, it's not a subject to discuss on a tech forum.

 

[Vayra86]

The first Rogue AI is here.

Didn't take long

 

[Assimilator]

MS has now hired Altman, and the others who resigned, directly. Guessing that this has been in the works for a while, the OpenAI board found out (hence the "not consistently candid in his communications" bit), and that's why they fired him.

 

[Frick]

MS has now hired Altman, and the others who resigned, directly. Guessing that this has been in the works for a while, the OpenAI board found out (hence the "not consistently candid in his communications" bit), and that's why they fired him.

That and him going in different directions than what OpenAI the non-profit (which controls the for-profit part) wanted is a pretty good guess. There might be other stuff too, totally nuking high profile CEOs like this is ... unusual.

That hiring could also be a reaction, somethinf they might regret. Time will tell.

 

[Dragokar]

That and him going in different directions than what OpenAI the non-profit (which controls the for-profit part) wanted is a pretty good guess. There might be other stuff too, totally nuking high profile CEOs like this is ... unusual.

That hiring could also be a reaction, somethinf they might regret. Time will tell.

Now Elon can hire OpenAIs Ilya Sutskever as he is a fan.

 

[Easy Rhino]

Altman already created an AI to replace the board of directors

 

[Evildead666]

If Altman wasnt secretly negotiating with Microsoft behind closed doors, the entire OpenAI board will be in a heap of trouble.
If Microsoft takes on all the workers who want to leave, and they have the cash to do that, the OpenAI is as good as dead.

Hope we hear more about this soon.

 

[Denver]

In yet another example of how stupid people destroy companies, and large successful corporations grow based on the mistakes of smaller companies.

 

[sethmatrix7]

MS has now hired Altman, and the others who resigned, directly. Guessing that this has been in the works for a while, the OpenAI board found out (hence the "not consistently candid in his communications" bit), and that's why they fired him.

Since we're speculating- I'll speculate that Altman simply did something the board didn't like, and in true board fashion they thought they'd just jettison the bath water and keep the baby, and didn't turn out so lucky.

 

[Easy Rhino]

My hot-take is that Altman was negotiating with Microsoft behind closed doors on another project and the board found out. Altman denied it so they canned him and the other member. Microsoft then swoops in and absorbs the entire OpenAI team and now Microsoft basically takes over control of OpenAI putting the entire "free open source AI" stuff in jeopardy. Microsoft is trash.

 

[lexluthermiester]

it sounds like there is some shenanigans going on behind closed doors.

Have to agree. Seems kinda iffy. Could also be perfectly legit. With microsoft being involved, who knows...

 

[ThrashZone]

HI,
One feature that needs to die is AI.

 

[Crackong]

I am curious.
What are the intentions of firing your CEO.
When the company is the hottest topic and biggest cash grab for the next decade, under the leadership of this exact CEO?

Maybe, just Maybe, IPO related?

 

[lexluthermiester]

My hot-take is that Altman was negotiating with Microsoft behind closed doors on another project and the board found out. Altman denied it so they canned him and the other member. Microsoft then swoops in and absorbs the entire OpenAI team and now Microsoft basically takes over control of OpenAI putting the entire "free open source AI" stuff in jeopardy. Microsoft is trash.

Yeah, that's my take.

 

[sLowEnd]

HI,
One feature that needs to die is AI.

It's never going to be put back into Pandora's box

 

[dragontamer5788]

Matt Levine from Bloomberg mapped out the org chart for everyone.

On the one hand, "Majority owner", "owner" and "Controls" are very powerful. But on the other hand, the power of money can certainly move things in ways that break the game.

That being said: the board was comically awful at their job. They fire Sam Altman and then immediately lose the PR war with the public, and their own employees before the weekend is over. I'm not sure if the board had a good idea for firing Sam Altman, but they certainly didn't make a good case publicly about it.

 

[lexluthermiester]

It's never going to be put back into Pandora's box

While you're not wrong, it needs to be roped in greatly.

 

[Broken Processor]

And this is how a company fades into obscurity. Bye OpenAI.

 

[kondamin]

I doubt microsoft is willing to make a 10billion loss on people they could poach for a couple of hundred million. Had they done it a bit more slowly

far more likely egos clashed and shutkever lost the popularity contest with the workers while winning the board.

 

[b1k3rdude]

Dont care, not interested.

 

[Slizzo]

Dont care, not interested.

Then don't comment? This isn't hard, if the news story doesn't engage you then you just move on and not comment that you don't care?


For me, I read this and the update and pretty much said, out loud, "Holy shit..."

OpenAI as has been said is effectively dead, but to have the majority of the team follow the CEO out the door to MS? Co-Pilot is about to get quite a bit better. Even though I have it turned off in my Windows 11 install.

 

[thesmokingman]

I am curious.
What are the intentions of firing your CEO.
When the company is the hottest topic and biggest cash grab for the next decade, under the leadership of this exact CEO?

Maybe, just Maybe, IPO related?

He basically broke the mission statement and wasn't forthright about it. OpenAI was founded as a counter to the giant Google. Instead Altman took the company towards max profits and signed away half the company to the dark side. Apparently the board had a problem with that, though one does have to scratch their head and wonder how the board didn't see this coming?