On November 18th, the OpenAI board of directors made the shocking decision to dismiss Sam Altman, which sent ripples through both the OpenAI community and the tech world.
The company explained its decision by stating that the board had lost confidence in Sam Altman’s leadership. Altman’s lack of transparency and interference with the board’s operations were cited as reasons for the move.
Greg Brockman, co-founder of OpenAI alongside Sam Altman and Elon Musk, revealed that the termination news came abruptly and was conveyed only through a Google Meet session.
Notably, Sam Altman wasn’t the only one to leave his position. Greg Brockman stepped down as chairman of the board as well, although he remained with the company in a different capacity.
There are various speculations surrounding Sam Altman’s departure. Some believe it may be linked to his relationship with the company’s corporate structure and OpenAI’s unusual board composition.
Bloomberg suggests that it could be related to Altman’s ambitions, as his recent fundraising efforts (raising billions from sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East to focus on AI chips) reportedly clashed with the company’s interests.
Additionally, Altman has collaborated with Masayoshi Son, the chairman of SoftBank Group Corp, to secure significant investment for a new AI hardware venture. This joint venture is planned in partnership with Jony Ive, Apple’s former chief designer.
Significantly, on the evening of November 17th, Sam Altman was still present at an event in Oakland, California, discussing the future of art and artists when artificial intelligence can generate images, videos, sounds, and other forms of art. Altman expressed his commitment to working with artists at OpenAI to bring about a bright future.
On the same day, Altman represented OpenAI at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO Summit in San Francisco, alongside Laurene Powell Jobs, the founder and chair of Emerson Collective, and CEOs from Meta and Google.
However, a Twitter account named Kara Swisher, believed to be an OpenAI employee, suggested that the dismissal might be related to personal or financial issues.
In September, Elizabeth Weil of New York Magazine published an article about Altman, highlighting some concerns about the former OpenAI CEO. While acknowledging Altman’s brilliance, the article pointed out that he might not be a genius, he exudes excessive self-confidence, and his leadership style can be detached from real-life concerns.
These concerns, along with suspicions of Microsoft’s involvement due to its substantial investment in OpenAI, have fueled speculations surrounding the reasons behind Altman’s termination.
Financial matters are also a prominent theory. Recently, Sam Altman tweeted that if he “rose again,” the OpenAI board wouldn’t be able to do anything as he doesn’t own any shares in the company. This is seen as Altman’s first defiant statement following the series of shocking events.