Sam Altman was surprisingly dismissed. The former Twitch CEO is to take over
Sam Altman was until recently the CEO of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. However, as of Friday, November 17, 2023, he is no longer at the helm of the AI company, as OpenAI announced in a (blog post)
After a short time he was supposed to (return). However, this does not seem to be the case. Instead, former Twitch CEO Emmett Shear is set to take over the reins, as (Forbes reports).
But what happened anyway? We explain one by one.
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Board of Directors terminates OpenAI founder Sam Altman
Why was Altman terminated? On Friday, November 17, the OpenAI Board of Directors announced that company founder and CEO Sam Altman had to leave the company.
On the company blog, the reasons for this step are as follows:
“Mr. Altman’s resignation follows a consultative review process by the Board, which concluded that he was not consistently open in his communications with the Board, which impeded the Board’s ability to discharge its responsibilities. The Board no longer has confidence in its ability to continue to lead OpenAI. “
Who’s taking over now? In the same blog post, the board announced that OpenAI’s previous CTO, Mira Murati, would take over as “interim CEO”. In the meantime, however, former Twitch CEO Emmett Shear is to take on this role. But more on that in a moment
Who else has been made redundant? Company co-founder Greg Brockman is also affected by the dismissal. However, he will not have to leave the company completely:
“As part of this transition, Greg Brockman will step down as Chairman of the Board and remain with the company in his role, reporting to the CEO. “
How did Altman and Brockman react? The resignation apparently came as a surprise to both. In a post on X (formerly Twitter) that Altman posted, Brockman describes exactly how they found out about it
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…
– Satya Nadella (@satyanadella) November 20, 2023
According to the report, Sam Altman only received the invitation to the corresponding termination meeting on Thursday evening. He allegedly did not yet know the nature of the meeting
Shortly after Altman was dismissed, Brockmann is also said to have received the news that he would have to step down as CEO.
Your management team is said to have been informed shortly afterwards.
Not with Brockman: A few hours after Brockman heard of the board’s decision, he resigned and with him three senior researchers.
Despite this, Altman is grateful: He writes on X that he really enjoyed his time at OpenAI and that it “changed him personally and hopefully the world a little”.
One day after his resignation, he also wrote that he had received a wave of encouragement and support:
i love you all.
today was a weird experience in many ways. but one unexpected one is that it has been sorta like reading your own eulogy while you’re still alive. the outpouring of love is awesome.
one takeaway: go tell your friends how great you think they are
– Sam Altman (@sama) November 18, 2023
Altman’s dubious return
Will Sam Altman be CEO of OpenAI again after all? On Saturday, November 18th, (The Verge) reported that the board was ready to reinstate Sam Altman as CEO. They cite “several people familiar with the matter” as the source for this statement.
One of these people allegedly told The Verge that Altman was “conflicted”. If he were to return, however, he would like to see significant changes in the company’s management.
Return failed: The Verge speaks (in another article) of “multiple sources” who testify that the four-person board did not want to step down and that Sam Altman would therefore not return.
How are OpenAI’s employees reacting to the situation? Many employees have sided with Altman and given the board an ultimatum.
If they didn’t reinstate Altman and Brockman to their old roles by 5 p.m. North American West Coast time last Saturday, they would face a wave of layoffs.
The board let this ultimatum pass. As a result, employees began to campaign for Altman and Brockman on social media. Another deadline to reach a “truce” by 5 p.m. on Sunday also passed.
Hundreds of employees have now sent an open letter to the OpenAI board threatening to leave the company if their demands are not met. A specific number of signatures is not known. Various international media report between 500 and 700 people – that would be almost the entire OpenAI workforce.
Breaking: 505 of 700 employees @OpenAI tell the board to resign. pic.twitter.com/M4D0RX3Q7a
– Kara Swisher (@karaswisher) November 20, 2023
Former CEO of Twitch takes over for the time being
Three CEOs in three days: After first appointing Mira Murati as interim CEO and having Sam Altman return for a short time, OpenAI’s board opted for a third option on Sunday, as (The Information first reported).
The new, also “interim” CEO is Emmett Shear. He was co-founder and CEO of the streaming portal Twitch.
Why should Shear take over? The appointment of Emmett Shear as interim CEO comes as a surprise, as he is not considered a leading AI specialist. It is not yet clear why the OpenAI Board of Directors chose him of all people.
Shear is ready: In a detailed statement on X, the former CEO of Twitch talks about his decision-making process.
“After consulting with my family and thinking about it for a few hours, I said yes. “
He justifies his departure from Twitch with the birth of his son. However, he now wants to be CEO of OpenAI.
“I took this job because I believe that OpenAI is one of the most important companies out there right now “
Why doesn’t Murati remain interim CEO for the time being? Officially, there is no statement on this. However, she has publicly sided with Altman. This could have angered the board. But that’s just speculation so far.
Altman and Brockman at Microsoft
What’s next for the two OpenAI founders? Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, has announced at X that the two will lead a new AI research team at the Redmond-based company.
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…
– Satya Nadella (@satyanadella) November 20, 2023
Altman has already confirmed this on his own X profile by sharing Nadella’s post with the words “The mission continues”. It remains to be seen whether 500 to 700 OpenAI employees will also join Microsoft’s new AI research team
Apparently, Microsoft is already considering open positions for the OpenAI employees. We will keep you up to date on further developments.
What do you think of Altman’s dismissal? And what do you think of the idea of appointing Emmett Shear as the new CEO – even if only temporarily? Do you think the OpenAI employees will carry out their threat and switch to Microsoft? Let us know your thoughts on this topic in the comments below:
