Why was Sam Altman - the co-founder and OpenAI CEO fired?

November 18, 2023
12:02 AM

Open AI CEO fired – became the talk of the world, after the board fired Sam Altman the co-founder of OpenAI, from his position of CEO, stating that it “no longer has confidence in his [Altman’s] ability to continue leading OpenAI.“

It also announced Mira Murati, the chief technology officer, as the interim CEO while OpenAI would conduct a formal search for CEO.

Also read: Who is Mira Murati?

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become synonymous with creating realistic human-like images, and if there’s a public face to this transformative technology, it’s Sam Altman’s. Altman, the co-founder of OpenAI, made waves a year ago with the launch of ChatGPT, positioning himself as the benevolent force steering the course of a technology poised to revolutionize entire industries.

However, on a surprising Friday, Altman found himself ousted from the CEO title and directorship at OpenAI. The board, overseeing a company now valued at approximately $80 billion, cited a lack of consistent candor in Altman’s communications as the reason for this abrupt decision.

Sam Altman Fired - how would it affect its employees and the company?

While the specifics leading to Altman’s removal remain unclear, the company assured its staff of its resilience without him. Yet, the departure of the Silicon Valley luminary leaves a significant void in OpenAI’s fundraising endeavors and engineering talent recruitment, both crucial aspects in sustaining and advancing AI software.

What triggered the Board of Directors

At 38, Altman remained resilient throughout his tenure at OpenAI. Just days before the announcement, he was spotted engaging with attendees at an AI conference in San Francisco, and the following day, participated in a panel discussion with a top Meta executive at the APEC summit, all while the board deliberated on his fate.

The gossip gardens have allegations that the Microsoft investment of 10 Billion USD might have had a hand for this turn of events, but all of these are just rumors untill proved. Have a look at the below tweet.

Elon Musk said it 6 months ago- "Microsoft is more in control than the OpenAI team realises!"

He was sane enough to know what Microsoft's $10bn investment into OpenAI meant. And now we know the sheer brute force with which it wields control.#SamAltman #OpenAI pic.twitter.com/gaYiM3EErS
— Jayant Mundhra (@jshilanjanm) November 18, 2023

Who is part of Board of Directors

OpenAI nonprofit board of directors included chairman and president Greg Brockman, chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, ex-CEO Sam Altman, employees Adam D’Angelo, Tasha McCauley, and Helen Toner.

What impact Sam Altman had in OpenAI

Altman’s influence was pivotal in convincing Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to invest $10 billion in the company. Under his guidance, OpenAI’s tender offer transactions this year led to a remarkable valuation surge from $29 billion to over $80 billion.

Beyond financial prowess, Altman’s personal aura attracted AI engineering talent in a fiercely competitive tech market. He successfully lured talent from industry giants like Google and Microsoft, offering them a stake in a groundbreaking technology that promised to reshape the world.

Despite concerns surrounding AI, such as doomsday scenarios and intellectual property theft, Altman remained optimistic about regulation. He asserted that “heavy regulation” wasn’t an immediate necessity, foreseeing its importance when AI models achieve outputs equivalent to entire companies, countries, or the world.

Who was Sam Altman before OpenAI

Altman, a St. Louis, Missouri native, briefly attended Stanford, adhering to the tradition of tech titans dropping out before completing their degrees. In addition to his contributions to OpenAI, he ventured into cryptocurrency this year, founding a firm focused on iris scanning for verification.

Altman’s moonshot ethos resonated well with ambitious engineers, offering them a chance to work on groundbreaking solutions to pressing problems. In his own words, “being misunderstood by most people is a strength, not a weakness,” giving a small group of innovators the space to tackle crucial problems that might otherwise go unresolved.

Did Sam Altman had a hunch of it all?

In a recent interview, Sam Altman mentioned that how Mira Murati was a good leader, and how he would make her do all things from now, which might raise allegations in inquisitive minds whether Sam Altman knew of this coming. A question which might remain unanswered for a while. Look at the below tweet for this interview clip.

Remember this WSJ interview from 4 weeks ago?

Altman hinted at big changes, saying, 'I’m going to make Mira do all these now.'

Fast forward to today, and Mira Murati is the new CEO at OpenAI on an interim basis!

Were you one of those who saw it coming? Share your thoughts! 💭 pic.twitter.com/yWVxbgk9jk
— Honcho Metrics (@honchometrics) November 18, 2023