Board of Directors dismisses CEO due to lack of confidence in his/her ability
AI safety-conflict over development speed
Open AI CEO Sam Altman (pictured), known as the ‘father of ChatGPT’, was suddenly dismissed. Some interpret it as a dramatic eruption of conflict over the development and safety of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, with it being evaluated as the ‘biggest corporate coup’ since Apple’s board of directors fired Steve Jobs in 1985. Altman’s dismissal is expected to have a significant impact on the AI technology war between big techs and the industry landscape.
The Open AI board of directors issued a statement on the 17th (local time), saying, “We are not confident in Altman’s ability to continue leading Open AI,” and added, “Altman has consistently been dishonest in his communication with the board.” “He announced his dismissal. According to the Financial Times (FT), Altman reportedly had differences of opinion with the board of directors on issues such as AI safety and the speed of technology development. There are also observations that the fact that he revealed his ‘ambitiousness’ while promoting a new AI-related startup had an impact.
Altman, who had been actively engaged in external activities until the afternoon of the 16th, including participating in the CEO event of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in San Francisco, USA, received a text message asking him to attend a board meeting that night and was dismissed the next day. OpenAI’s board of directors appointed Mira Murati, chief technology officer (CTO), who played a key role in the development of electric vehicle company Tesla Model X, as interim CEO. However, on the 18th, there was a movement to reinstate Altman as CEO, led by Open AI shareholders Microsoft (MS) and Thrive Capital.
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“I had a strange experience reading my own 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 driving force behind the current Open AI, drawing massive 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. The dovish Sutzkeber formed a super-alignment team to control superintelligence AI in July this year. But after two months, when his scope of responsibility was reduced, he reportedly raised the issue with the board. Sützkeber 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 Sützkeber 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, the stock price of Microsoft, 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.