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[NEW] Former OpenAI CEO Altman and others to join Microsoft after being fired; over 90% of employees to transfer

2023/11/20Editors of Iolite
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[NEW] Former OpenAI CEO Altman and others to join Microsoft after being fired; over 90% of employees to transfer

Suddenly joins Microsoft after being fired from OpenAI

On the 20th, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced that he has brought in former CEO Samuel Altman, who was fired last week in a coup at OpenAI, to strengthen the company's AI division. In addition, OpenAI co-founder and president Greg Brockman will also join Microsoft.

The two will lead Microsoft's AI research lab. Microsoft, which has invested $13 billion in OpenAI, was not informed of Altman's dismissal until the OpenAI board of directors' announcement.

OpenAI's board initially named CTO Mira Murati as interim CEO to replace Altman. However, it later announced that Emmett Shear, former CEO of Amazon's streaming service Twitch, would take over as CEO.

Microsoft's Nadella said on X (formerly Twitter) that he was looking forward to getting to know Scheer and was excited to share the news that Altman and Brockman will be joining Microsoft to lead the new advanced AI research team.

Microsoft is OpenAI's largest investor, and Nadella said in his post that Altman will be the new CEO of the "new entity."

More than 90% of OpenAI's employees may be leaving the company

Altman's joining Microsoft has erased speculation that OpenAI's board of directors would change course and reappoint Altman as CEO. After being fired as CEO, Altman posted a photo of himself holding an OpenAI guest badge on X on the 19th, saying, "This is the first and last time I'll ever wear this," and has shown a negative stance on being reappointed as CEO.

Following the announcement that Altman would join Microsoft, the turmoil within OpenAI seemed to have calmed down, but OpenAI employees are calling for the resignation of the entire OpenAI board of directors, claiming that "Altman's dismissal was a mistake."

According to multiple reports, 730 of the 770 employees have signed a document stating that they will resign if Altman is not reinstated.

The reason for Altman's dismissal from OpenAI remains unclear. In a statement on the 17th, the OpenAI board of directors claimed that Altman was not "candid" enough with the board, which hindered the board from fulfilling its responsibilities. Based on these findings, it is believed that the reason for Altman's dismissal was that Altman and the board of directors did not agree on the pursuit of profits for OpenAI.

Although Altman is the founder of OpenAI, he has received almost no compensation from OpenAI and holds only a very small amount of stock. It is said that the direction of the profit-seeking board and Altman, who launched OpenAI as a non-profit corporation, has not been consistent in the past.

Brockman posted on his X account that he had learned he was being fired minutes before the announcement was made public. He also suggested that Altman's dismissal was due to differences of opinion with the company's research division, led by the other co-founder and chief scientist, Ilya Sutskever.

According to a source familiar with the background to the firing, a major factor was the difference between Altman's more aggressive approach to AI development and OpenAI's desire to proceed more cautiously.

OpenAI's new CEO calls Altman's dismissal a "failure"

Sear, the new CEO of OpenAI, posted on X that he took the job because he believes OpenAI is one of the most important companies today. "When the board shared the situation with me and asked me to take on the role, I did not make the decision lightly. I felt an obligation to help in any way I could," he said. He said it took him several hours of deliberation to decide to join OpenAI.

Schear also called Altman's firing a "failure." He said the whole affair had significantly damaged OpenAI's reputation, saying, "It was very disrespectful and seriously damaged our credibility."

Schear said he plans to set up an independent investigative committee to report on the circumstances that led to Altman's firing. He did not elaborate on the reasons for Altman's firing, but did not express concerns that he was taking OpenAI in a dangerous direction.

"The board did not fire Altman for any specific differences of opinion about safety. Their reasoning was quite different. I'm not crazy enough to take this job without the board's support to commercialize our great models," Schear said.

According to Schear, OpenAI will make significant changes in December based on the committee's findings and discussions with other stakeholders.

Reference:Nadella X
Image: Shutterstock

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