OpenAI / Ars Technica
OpenAI held a staff meeting in San Francisco on Friday, shortly after the sudden and shocking departure of CEO Sam Altman from OpenAI was reported online. There are many ways to report on the news. The Information. The Information.
Greg Brockman, the president and co-founder at OpenAI, was still on site a couple of hours later. Post a statement X replied that he sent a note to OpenAI after he received the news of today: “based on todays news, i quit.” Brockman was removed from the OpenAI Board on Friday. Initially, the company announced that he would stay on.
OpenAI has released an earlier version of its a blog post titled “OpenAI announces leadership transition” Atlman announced its arrival in the city “was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities.” Altman responds to a comment on X. Written by, “I loved my time at openai,” The future plans were hinted without any specifics.
The news of Altman’s firing shocked the tech community Friday. Rumors circulated on social media as to the possible reasons for his departure. None of these have been confirmed. Altman delivered the keynote at its first Dev Day conference, and spoke in a panel discussion on Thursday at the APEC CEO Summit. Altman’s firing may have been a surprise to those who knew him. He had not done anything wrong, as reported by people close to him.
OpenAI Chief scientist Ilya Sutskever told staff, according to reports, that the internal shake-up would occur. “make us feel closer.” Sutskever sent a message to the staff in an earlier note. “Change can be scary,” The Information assures that The Information has a strong presence in the market. “incredible team” and that the company’s “research progress is wildly dramatic to say the least, and our product is the fastest growing in history.”
Altman’s departure also surprised Microsoft employees. According to reports, employees who worked on OpenAI projects were not informed of Altman being terminated. Altman was OpenAI’s primary contact, and played a key role in the deals that led Microsoft to invest billions. Altman, according to reports, attended a regularly-scheduled meeting with Microsoft executives last Thursday.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella penned a X-post. “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.”
OpenAI, amid the turmoil, has stressed that Murati’s position as CEO appears to be temporary. “Search process underway to identify permanent successor,” In their announcement, they stated. OpenAI was not available for immediate comment.
Update – 11/28/2023 at 12 AM Eastern
The latest reports from Kara Swisher You can also find out more about the following: InformationThe board of directors acted in a way that was a surprise to Altman and Brockman, who were kept in the dark about the decision until Friday afternoon. Altman was fired on Friday afternoon, a decision that came as a total surprise to Brockman and Altman.
At 8:42 PM Pacific, Greg Brockman Joint statement released Sam Altman, from himself and X.
Sam and I were shocked and saddened at what the board decided to do today.
First, let us thank the amazing people we’ve worked with at OpenAI. Our customers, our investors, as well as all those who have reached out.
We’re still trying our best to understand what exactly happened. Here’s what we do know:
Sam received a text last night from Ilya, asking for a talk on Friday at noon. Sam was at a Google Meet with the entire board except Greg. Ilya informed Sam of his dismissal and said that the news would be announced very soon.
Greg received a text at 12:19pm from Ilya, asking him to make a quick phone call. At 12:23pm, Ilya sent a Google Meet link. Greg was informed that he would be removed from the board of directors (but that he would still retain his position as a vital member of the company) and Sam was fired. OpenAI posted a blog around the same period.
As far we know, Mira was the only one who knew about this the night before.
The outpouring of support has been really nice; thank you, but please don’t spend any time being concerned. We’ll be fine. Soon, we will see greater things.
Sam Altman made his second statement at 9:05 pm Pacific on X today.
i love you all. Today was strange in so many ways. but one unexpected one is that it has been sorta like reading your own eulogy while you’re still alive. It’s amazing to see the love that has been shown. One thing to remember: tell your friends you love them.
As more information becomes available, expect to hear more about this topic.