Over the weekend, a major scandal unfolded within OpenAI, the company behind the popular AI tools, ChatGPT and DALL-E. The board of directors fired CEO and co-founder, Sam Altman, along with the company's public face. Following suit, the second co-founder, Greg Brockman, was also removed from the board. Despite being offered a directorial position, Greg chose to step down, citing disagreement with the board's decision regarding Sam. Investors subsequently pressured the leadership to reinstate Altman as the head of the company. Let's unravel the timeline of this extraordinary dismissal, as reconstructed by Partnerkin.
On Friday evening, OpenAI released a blog post announcing the dismissal of CEO Sam Altman. Mira Murati, the company's CTO, will serve as the interim CEO.
A key quote from the publication:
“The departure of Mr. Altman followed the process of deliberation conducted by the board of directors. The board concluded that Altman had not always been candid in communication with the leadership. The leadership is no longer confident in his ability to lead OpenAI.”
Shortly after this news broke, Sam confirmed his dismissal via a tweet. He also mentioned that he will have more to share about what happens next.
Additionally, the post revealed that the second co-founder, Greg Brockman, would step down as the board's chairman but retain his position, reporting to the new CEO.
Greg acted as a loyal co-founder, stating that he voluntarily leaves the company:
"I am very proud of what we have created together since launching the project in my apartment 8 years ago… But based on today's news, I must announce that I am leaving. I continue to believe in our mission to create safe Artificial Intelligence for the benefit of all humanity."
Following this, Greg posted a chronology of events:
- On Friday, November 17th, at 12:00, Sam Altman joined a Google Meet call where all board members, except Greg, dismissed him. Ilya Sutskever informed him of the news.
- At 12:19, Greg received a message from Ilya requesting a brief call, during which, at 12:23, he was informed of Sam's dismissal and his own removal as the board chairman while keeping his position in the company.
- At 12:25, the blog post was published on openai.com.
- Subsequently, the news was conveyed to the rest of the company's employees.
Greg also added, "Sam and I are shocked and saddened by the board's actions today. We are still trying to understand what happened. Your support is truly appreciated, thank you. But please, don't waste time worrying. Everything will be fine. Great things await us."
Let's examine the composition of the company's board to understand who held the sword of Damocles over the project's two founders:
- Greg Brockman — President;
- Sam Altman — CEO;
- Ilya Sutskever — Chief Scientist;
- Adam D'Angelo — CEO of Quora;
- Tasha McCauley — Technological Entrepreneur;
- Helen Toner — Director of Grants at Georgetown.
To make a collective decision, 4 votes are required, meaning the last 4 voted in favor of the dismissal.
According to information obtained by The Information, Ilya Sutskever, the third co-founder and chief scientist of the company, orchestrated this downsizing.
This information was confirmed by renowned journalist Kara Swisher. In her X social media profile, she posted several updates:
"...Sources tell me that the key figure behind this is Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever. Tensions with Sam and Greg escalated. The board of directors sided with Ilya. DevDay was a turning point when Altman went too far and too fast."
Social media users quickly noticed that shortly before the presentation, Ilya Sutskever, who rarely makes any posts, wrote several ambiguous posts on X without a specific recipient.
Post from September 29: "Ego is the enemy of development."
Post from November 7: "If you value intelligence above other human qualities, you will have a hard time / bad times await you."
OpenAI COO Brad LaiCap, in a conversation with Axios, stated that the dismissal was not the result of "misconduct or anything related to our financial, business practices, security, or confidentiality," but rather a "breakdown in communication between Sam Altman and the board of directors."
At least three leading specialists at OpenAI announced their departure following Sam. Jacob Pachocki, the company's research director, Alexander Madry, the head of the AI risk assessment group, and Shimon Sidor, a researcher who worked at OpenAI for 7 years.
Sam responded with an eloquent post on X: "I love the OpenAI team very much."
Many replies with hearts from company employees immediately appeared below it. The departure of key company employees prompted an immediate response from OpenAI investors. On Sunday morning, reports surfaced that the board of directors was in talks with Sam about his return to OpenAI as CEO.
Even Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella personally intervened in the conflict. The tech giant, the largest investor in OpenAI, having invested over $11 billion in the startup throughout their collaboration, with an agreement for additional investments of $10 billion over the next few years.
According to some sources, Satya was furious at the board's decision and stated that he would support Sam in any case. Investors were not given prior warning and an opportunity to express their opinions on the board's decision. Sam's removal puts the future of OpenAI at stake, while competitors rush to catch up with the unprecedented growth of ChatGPT.
Sam responded by saying that he was ambivalent about the offer to return and set a condition for the removal of the entire board of directors, including Ilya. A deadline was set for the decision - November 19, 5:00 PM Pacific Time. The board agreed to Sam's conditions but missed the deadline, at which point OpenAI employees were supposed to resign.
User High Yield Harry: "I patiently await new unexpected twists in the saga 'Sam Altman vs. OpenAI.'"
What awaits OpenAI next?
Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, and the OpenAI team will make their decision in the coming days. Specialists of this caliber will not remain unemployed, as evidenced by the numerous offers for collaboration. If Sam decides to start a new company instead of returning to OpenAI, most of the top specialists, and creators of ChatGPT, will follow him. Considering the meticulous approach to personnel selection, replacing them will be a non-trivial task. Investors are aware of this and are willing to agree to any conditions Sam sets. Behind the scenes of the fastest-growing startup, a drama worthy of an HBO adaptation has unfolded in just three days.
UPD: On Monday morning, it became known that Sam Altman rejected the offer to return to the company as CEO. Emmett Shear, the acting CEO and co-founder of the streaming platform Twitch was appointed as the acting CEO of OpenAI. Mira Murati, OpenAI CTO, is trying to bring Sam and Greg back to the company in other positions.
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