“Our primary focus remains on developing and releasing useful and safe AI, and supporting the new board as they work to make improvements to our governance structure.”Īltman has spent much of the past year assuring the public that OpenAI takes seriously the responsibility of shepherding its powerful technology into the world. We look forward to the findings of the review and continue to stand behind Sam,” the spokesperson said in a statement to TIME. “We’re unable to disclose specific details until the board’s independent review is complete. But there’s also a clear pattern, if you look at his behavior, of really seeking power in an extreme way.”Īn OpenAI spokesperson said the company could not comment on the events surrounding Altman’s firing. “He cares about the mission, he cares about other people, he cares about humanity. It would be easier to tell this story if he was a terrible person,” says one of them. “In a lot of ways, Sam is a really nice guy he’s not an evil genius. These people saw this pattern as part of a broader attempt to consolidate power. Two people familiar with the board’s proceedings say that Altman is skilled at manipulating people, and that he had repeatedly received feedback that he was sometimes dishonest in order to make people feel he agreed with them when he did not. But four people who have worked with Altman over the years also say he could be slippery-and at times, misleading and deceptive. Those who know him describe Altman as affable, brilliant, uncommonly driven, and gifted at rallying investors and researchers alike around his vision of creating artificial general intelligence (AGI) for the benefit of society as a whole. Interviews with more than 20 people in Altman’s circle-including current and former OpenAI employees, multiple senior executives, and others who have worked closely with him over the years-reveal a complicated portrait. Altman’s “behavior and lack of transparency in his interactions with the board” had undermined its ability to supervise the company in accordance with its mandate, though it did not share examples. (Jobs, as it happens, was once fired by Apple, only to return as well.) As rumors swirled over the ouster, the board said there was no dispute over the safety of OpenAI’s products, the commercialization of its technology, or the pace of its research. “You don’t fire a Steve Jobs,” said former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. Photograph by Joe Pugliese for TIMEĪltman, 38, has been Silicon Valley royalty for a decade, a superstar founder with immaculate vibes. The episode leaves lingering questions about both the company and its chief executive. “But I wish there had been some other way to get there.” This was no ordinary boardroom battle, and OpenAI is no ordinary startup. “We really do feel just stronger and more unified and more focused than ever,” Altman says in the last of three interviews with TIME, after his second official day back as CEO. In the end, Altman won back his job and the board was overhauled. It seemed as if the company that catalyzed the AI boom might collapse overnight. Then Altman looked set to decamp to Microsoft-with potentially hundreds of colleagues in tow. At one point, OpenAI’s whole staff threatened to quit if the board didn’t resign and reinstall Altman within a few hours, three people involved in the standoff tell TIME. Meanwhile, the company’s employees and its board of directors faced off in “a gigantic game of chicken,” says a person familiar with the discussions. The players postured via selfie, open letter, and heart emojis on social media. The company’s visionary chief scientist voted to oust his fellow co-founder, only to backtrack. So did OpenAI’s powerful investors one even baselessly speculated that one of the directors who defenestrated Altman was a Chinese spy. The surreal maneuvering that followed made the corporate dramas of Succession seem staid. 17, OpenAI’s nonprofit board of directors fired Altman, without warning or even much in the way of explanation.
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