OpenAI CEO Fired
Sam Altman, the co-founder and CEO of OpenAI, was abruptly fired from his position by the company's board of directors on Friday.
A few hours after Altman was fired, co-founder Greg Brockman resigned. Then, on Monday of this week, Altman was hired by Microsoft as the head of the artificial intelligence (AI) research team at the software giant.
Altman's firing sparked a reaction among OpenAI employees. They threatened to resign en masse in protest of the board's move.
Technology journalist Kara Swisher obtained a copy of a letter sent by a representative of OpenAI employees to the board. In it, the employees expressed disappointment at the board's decision to dismiss Altman, which they saw as contrary to the company's interests.
Moreover, that attitude was repeated when the board of directors removed interim CEO Mira Murati in just two days after she started her tenure.
"Your actions clearly show that you are not capable of overseeing OpenAI. We cannot work for or with people who do not have the competence, judgment, and care for our mission and employees," the letter said.
The OpenAI employees also threatened to resign en masse. Those who intend to resign signed their names. Swisher said there are more than 500 signatures on the letter, while the number of OpenAI employees is around 770 people.
Later, from The Verge, Tuesday (November 21, 2023), the number of signatures has increased to 650.
Boss and employees flock to Microsoft
In the letter, the OpenAI employees who threatened to resign also said that they would join a new unit at Microsoft led by Altman and Brockman.
According to them, Microsoft has promised to accommodate OpenAI employees in the newly formed "advanced AI research team." Altman is known to have been appointed as its leader, just days after being kicked out of OpenAI.
The news of Altman's joining Microsoft was announced by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in a post on X (Twitter) on Monday. In addition to Altman, Brockman was also recruited by the software giant.
"We are very excited to announce that Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, along with their colleagues, will be joining Microsoft to lead a new advanced AI research team," Nadella wrote.
If hundreds of OpenAI employees actually move to the new unit as promised by Microsoft, they will be like "bedol desa". The boss and his employees return to the same place.
Microsoft is actually one of OpenAI's most important partners and investors. The collaboration between the two companies began as early as 2019, long before the AI ChatGPT boom. At that time, Microsoft invested $1 billion to develop cloud servers with OpenAI.
Nadella said that even though the former OpenAI leadership has joined Microsoft, his company will continue to collaborate with OpenAI.
"We remain committed to our partnership with Open AI and are confident in our product roadmap, our ability to continue to innovate in line with everything we announced at Microsoft Ignite, and to continue to support our customers and partners," Nadella added.
Previously, just a week before establishing the "advanced AI research team" led by Altman, Microsoft announced its own AI chip.
Reasons OpenAI's board fired Sam Altman
According to an announcement on OpenAI's official blog, the firing of the OpenAI boss was caused by Altman's perceived lack of transparency in communicating with OpenAI's board.
The statement was not further detailed so it is not known what exactly made the OpenAI CEO considered to be less transparent.
Clearly, the OpenAI board of directors considered this attitude to be hindering their ability to see Altman's overall performance, as well as the responsibilities he carries as CEO.
"However, we also believe that a change in leadership is necessary for OpenAI to move in a better direction, as well as to implement AI that is useful for humanity," said the board of directors, quoted from OpenAI.com, Monday (November 20, 2023).
Based on the news circulating on the internet, the decision to fire was made because there were differences of opinion between the CEO and the board of directors, especially with Ilya Sutskever, one of the founders and chief scientist. The differences of opinion centered on the issue of AI safety, the pace of technological development, and the company's commercialization.
Conclusion
The firing of Sam Altman by the OpenAI