“I had a strange experience reading my eulogy while still alive and well.”
Sam Altman, former CEO of OpenAI, expressed his feelings in a post posted on social media X (formerly Twitter) on the 18th (local time), the day after receiving notice of dismissal from the board of directors. On the 6th, Altman has been working enthusiastically, announcing plans to build his own application (app) platform ‘GPT Store’ to compete with Google Play and others. He said he did not know about this until he was suddenly notified of his dismissal in a video conference on the 17th. “I loved my time at Open AI,” Altman told X shortly after being notified of his dismissal. “I will talk more about the next steps later,” he said.
Altman is the person who created the current Open AI by attracting enormous financial support from Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Microsoft (MS). Some even called it ‘the goose that lays the golden eggs of the AI industry’. The exact reason for Altman’s dismissal is not known. However, there is an analysis that the conflict between the ‘hawks’ within Open AI, who call for the speed of AI development and commercial viability to be further strengthened, and the ‘doves’, who are wary of the risks of AI technology development, has been expressed to an extreme extent.
Altman, a hawk who has been accelerating the monetization of ChatGPT, has formalized the possibility of launching GPT-5, an artificial general intelligence (AGI) model that can learn and create from all given situations. Accordingly, it is reported that there was a conflict with the board of directors, which recognized the risk of being in a situation where human control of AI was impossible.
Altman also had a conflict with OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever. Dovish Sutskever formed a super-alignment team to control superintelligence AI in July of this year. However, after two months, when his scope of responsibility was reduced, he reportedly raised the issue with the board of directors. Sutskever is said to have taken the lead in the dismissal of Altman from the six-member board.
The New York Times (NYT) reported, citing an insider, that Sützkever told employees who opposed Altman’s ouster, “We must maintain the Open AI mission of creating AI that is beneficial to humanity.” The Washington Post (WP) also analyzed “Altman’s desire to pursue profit and build Open AI into a global business” as the reason for his dismissal.
There is analysis that the fact that Altman promoted a new startup was also related to his dismissal. One source told Bloomberg News that “Altman sought to raise tens of billions of dollars from Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds to create an AI semiconductor startup that would compete with NVIDIA.” Reuters reported that he discussed developing AI devices to replace smartphones with former Apple designer Jony Ive.
Axios, an American media outlet, reported on the 18th that OpenAI Chief Operating Officer Brad Lightcap said in an internal memo, “It is not related to any wrongdoing, company finances, or privacy issues.” Axios pointed out that “it is almost unprecedented for the founding CEO of a successful technology startup to be ousted without allegations of misconduct.” After OpenAI established a for-profit company as a subsidiary in 2019, Altman worked with no shares and an annual salary of only $65,000 (about 85 million won).
With Altman’s dismissal, Open AI faced severe fallout. Co-founder Greg Brockman, who is known to have been promoting AI startups with Altman, and three senior researchers also left the company. When the news of Altman’s dismissal was announced, Microsoft’s stock price, the largest shareholder of Open AI, fell 1.68% from the previous trading day.
However, the possibility of Altman returning cannot be ruled out. According to Bloomberg News, OpenAI investors pressured the board of directors to reverse the decision to fire Altman. There were also foreign media reports that Altman and the Open AI board discussed returning. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella reportedly contacted Altman and said, “We will support whatever action is taken in the future.” It is said that if he returns, Altman is likely to demand changes to the way Open AI is operated, including a reorganization of the board of directors.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.