On Wednesday, OpenAI announced that Sam Altman has officially returned to the ChatGPT-maker as CEO—accompanied by Mira Murati as CTO and Greg Brockman as president—resuming their roles from before the shocking firing of Altman that threw the company into turmoil two weeks ago. Altman says the company did not lose a single employee or customer throughout the crisis.
"I have never been more excited about the future. I am extremely grateful for everyone's hard work in an unclear and unprecedented situation, and I believe our resilience and spirit set us apart in the industry," wrote Altman in an official OpenAI news release. "I feel so, so good about our probability of success for achieving our mission."
Previously:
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Purged, President Brockman Quits, but Maybe They'll All Come Back After All - 20231119
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OpenAI President Greg Brockman quits as shocked employees hold all-hands meeting
On Friday afternoon, not long after news of CEO Sam Altman's abrupt and surprising departure from OpenAI began spreading online, the company held an all-hands meeting at its headquarters in San Francisco, reports The Information. During the meeting, interim CEO Mira Murati attempted to reassure the shocked employees that the search for a new CEO is underway.
Hours later, OpenAI co-founder and president Greg Brockman posted a statement on X, saying that after he learned today's news he sent a message to the OpenAI team: "based on todays news, i quit." Brockman, a key technical figure involved in many of the company's successes, was relieved of his OpenAI board membership on Friday, but the company initially announced he would be staying on.
Earlier on Friday, OpenAI released a blog post titled "OpenAI announces leadership transition" where it announced that Atlman "was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities." In a response post on X, Altman wrote, "I loved my time at openai," and hinted at future plans without revealing any details.
OpenAI co-founder and head of research Ilya Sutskever may have led the "coup". Other board members involved in the removal include Adam D'Angelo (Quora CEO), Tasha McCauley (RAND Corporation), and Helen Toner (Georgetown's Center for Security and Emerging Technology).
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WTF is going on at OpenAI? We have theories
Why Was Sam Altman Fired As CEO of OpenAI?
Everything We Know About OpenAI's Shocking Ouster of Sam Altman
On Friday afternoon Pacific Time, OpenAI announced the appointment of three new members to the company's board of directors and released the results of an independent review of the events surrounding CEO Sam Altman's surprise firing last November. The current board expressed its confidence in the leadership of Altman and President Greg Brockman, and Altman is rejoining the board.
[...]
The independent review, conducted by law firm WilmerHale, investigated the circumstances that led to Altman's abrupt removal from the board and his termination as CEO on November 17, 2023. Despite rumors to the contrary, the board did not fire Altman because they got a peek at scary new AI technology and flinched. "WilmerHale... found that the prior Board's decision did not arise out of concerns regarding product safety or security, the pace of development, OpenAI's finances, or its statements to investors, customers, or business partners."Instead, the review determined that the prior board's actions stemmed from a breakdown in trust between the board and Altman.
[...]
Altman's surprise firing occurred after he attempted to remove Helen Toner from OpenAI's board due to disagreements over her criticism of OpenAI's approach to AI safety and hype. Some board members saw his actions as deceptive and manipulative. After Altman returned to OpenAI, Toner resigned from the OpenAI board on November 29.In a statement posted on X, Altman wrote, "i learned a lot from this experience. one think [sic] i'll say now: when i believed a former board member was harming openai through some of their actions, i should have handled that situation with more grace and care. i apologize for this, and i wish i had done it differently."
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After OpenAI's announcements on Friday, resigned OpenAI board members Toner and Tasha McCauley released a joint statement on X. "Accountability is important in any company, but it is paramount when building a technology as potentially world-changing as AGI," they wrote. "We hope the new board does its job in governing OpenAI and holding it accountable to the mission. As we told the investigators, deception, manipulation, and resistance to thorough oversight should be unacceptable."
Previously on SoylentNews:
Sam Altman Officially Back as OpenAI CEO: "We Didn't Lose a Single Employee" - 20231202
AI Breakthrough That Could Threaten Humanity Might Have Been Key To Sam Altman's Firing - 20231124
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Purged, President Brockman Quits, but Maybe They'll All Come Back After All - 20231119
(Score: 4, Interesting) by khallow on Sunday December 03 2023, @12:01AM (2 children)
Looks like the people saying [soylentnews.org] that Microsoft would win big are right.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Revek on Sunday December 03 2023, @05:51PM (1 child)
If they won who lost?
This page was generated by a Swarm of Roaming Elephants
(Score: 2, Interesting) by khallow on Sunday December 03 2023, @11:44PM