'Lost confidence in him': ChatGPT maker OpenAI sacks CEO Sam Altman

The board of OpenAI, which launched ChatGPT a year ago, fired its CEO Sam Altman late on Friday, saying it no longer has “confidence” in him. The company has decided to appoint OpenAI’s Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati as the interim CEO adding that it will conduct a formal search for a permanent CEO. Altman became a tech world sensation with the release of ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot with unprecedented capabilities, churning out human-level content like poems or artwork in seconds. His firing sent shockwaves in the tech industry and blindsided many employees who learned about the management shuffle from an internal announcement and the company’s public-facing blog. “Altman’s departure follows a deliberative review process by the board, which concluded that he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities,” OpenAI said in the blog without elaborating. “The board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI,” it concluded. Soon after the announcement, Altman said on X, “I loved my time at openai. it was transformative for me personally, and hopefully the world a little bit. Most of all I loved working with such talented people.”

i loved my time at openai. it was transformative for me personally, and hopefully the world a little bit. most of all i loved working with such talented people.

will have more to say about what’s next later.

🫡

— Sam Altman (@sama) November 17, 2023

Following the news of Altman’s dismissal, Greg Brockman, OpenAI president and co-founder, stepped down from his post as the chairman of the board. “I’m super proud of what we’ve built… but based on today’s news, I quit,” Brockman said in a post at X. “I continue to believe in the mission of creating safe AGI (artificial general intelligence)that benefits all of humanity,” he added.

After learning today’s news, this is the message I sent to the OpenAI team: https://t.co/NMnG16yFmm pic.twitter.com/8x39P0ejOM

— Greg Brockman (@gdb) November 18, 2023

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Altman, who ran Y Combinator, is a serial entrepreneur and investor. He was the face of OpenAI and the wildly popular generative AI technology as he toured the world this year. Microsoft has invested billions of dollars in OpenAI and has woven the company’s technology into its offerings, including the search engine Bing. Altman has testified before US Congress about AI and spoken with heads of state about the technology, as pressure ramps up to regulate against risks such as AI’s potential use in bioweapons, misinformation and other threats. With inputs from agencies