Greg Brockman Quits OpenAI After Abrupt Firing of Sam Altman – Greg Brockman, co-founder and president of OpenAI, announced his departure from the company on Friday. This comes shortly after the unexpected removal of CEO Sam Altman by the Microsoft-backed organization, despite earlier assurances that Brockman would stay with the startup. The sudden exit of Brockman contributes to the uncertainties surrounding OpenAI, occurring shortly after the inaugural developer conference led by Altman.
In a sequence of tweets, Greg Brockman mentioned that Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI’s chief scientist, notified Sam Altman about a Friday noon call on Thursday evening. During this call, Sutskever and other OpenAI board members informed Altman of his termination. “As far as we know, the management team was made aware of this shortly after, other than Mira who found out the night prior,”
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Brockman wrote. Mira Murati, the CTO of OpenAI, has been appointed as interim CEO of OpenAI, the startup said today. OpenAI initially stated that Greg Brockman would step down as chairman of the board but continue with the company. Despite the board’s desire for him to stay, Brockman chose to resign, expressing sadness over the board’s direction. The reasons behind Sam Altman’s removal from OpenAI, co-founded by Brockman and Altman, are undisclosed by both OpenAI and Microsoft, the latter owning approximately half of the company.
This unexpected departure of the influential duo has reverberated through Silicon Valley, where Altman served as the public face of the startup, known for leading the AI race and influencing numerous startups leveraging OpenAI’s technology. “I’m super proud of what we’ve all built together since starting in my apartment 8 years ago. We’ve ben through tough & great times together, accomplishing so much despite all the reasons it should have been impossible,” wrote Brockman in a message to OpenAI team.
“But based on today’s news, I quit. Genuinely wishing you all nothing but the best. I continue to believe in the mission of creating safe AGI that benefits all of humanity.” Earlier on Friday, OpenAI said Altman had left the firm after losing the confidence of the board. OpenAI said Altman was leaving the firm after a “deliberative review process” by the board” concluded that he was “not consistently candid in his communications” with the board, which hindered “its ability to exercise its responsibilities.”
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The announcement follows less than a fortnight after OpenAI hosted its inaugural developer conference, during which Altman revealed that ChatGPT had reached a user base of 100 million. Microsoft chief Satya Nadella, who was a chief guest at the conference, said “we love you guys.” In a later interview with FT, Altman said he expected to raise “a lot more” from Microsoft and other investors in the future.
“We have a long-term agreement with OpenAI with full access to everything we need to deliver on our innovation agenda and an exciting product roadmap; and remain committed to our partnership, and to Mira and the team. Together, we will continue to deliver the meaningful benefits of this technology to the world,” Nadella said in a statement Friday.