OpenAI CEO Tim Altman and the OpenAI Board: What Has the Board Done recently? (And What Has It Done Recently)

The announcement was the latest development in a drama that began last Friday, when OpenAI’s board of directors removed Altman over apparent differences of balancing safety with artificial intelligence with the desire to release new AI tools into the world.

I am not sure if the conduct of a beloved and charismatic leader would hurt the mission, but I am pretty sure the board missed the chance. The directors thought that they would give him a walking papers and the slot in a replacement. Instead, the consequences were immediate and volcanic. This new narrative made Altman a cult hero. He did not do a lot to discourage the uproar that followed. The board was right to dismiss him, since the employees revolt of the past few days is a sign that he was doing something wrong. Clever Sam is still up to something! Meanwhile, all of Silicon Valley blew up, tarnishing OpenAI’s status, maybe permanently.

Helen Toner, who was rumored to be the key board member in the ousting of Altman, said, ” and now, we all get some sleep.”

The OpenAI Board of Trustees: Why I’m Faint and What I’ve Learned about Sam and Greg Brockman

“OpenAI has the potential to be one of the most consequential companies in the history of computing,” Thrive partner Kelly Sims said in a statement shared with The Verge. Sam and Greg are both excellent leaders and possess an incredible ability to inspire and lead. We couldn’t be more excited for them to return to the company they founded and help build on what it is today.

All key parties have posted about the deal to return, which appears to be a done deal minus some last minute paperwork. Altman said that “everything I’ve done over the past few days has been in service of keeping this team and its mission together.”

The company, maker of the popular ChatGPT, said it would also create a new board of directors. The board voted to fire the CEO late last week.

Altman, Brockman, Elon Musk and others founded OpenAI about eight years ago as a nonprofit AI research lab. Under Altman’s leadership, it transformed into a lucrative juggernaut. Last year, the company released ChatGPT, setting the pace for the tech industry’s focus on a sophisticated type of artificial intelligence known as generative AI.

I joke that the odd org chart that mapped this relationship looked like a future GPT might make, which didn’t impress Sutskever. He told me that we were the only company in the world with a capped profit structure. It makes sense when you think that if we succeed, then theGPUs will take my job and everyone’s job, and it is nice if that company does not make truly unlimited amounts of returns. In the meantime, to make sure that the profit-seeking part of the company doesn’t shirk its commitment to making sure that the AI doesn’t get out of control, there’s that board, keeping an eye on things.

This would-be guardian of humanity is the same board that fired Sam Altman last Friday, saying that it no longer had confidence in the CEO because “he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities.” No examples of that alleged behavior were provided, and almost no one at the company knew about the firing until just before it was publicly announced. Microsoft’s CEO got no warning. Greg Brockman, the Openai president and chairman, was kicked off the board by the four directors. Brockman was quick to resign.

The day after Altman was fired, he talked about coming back to the company before accepting a job at Microsoft. On Monday morning, hundreds of staff signed a letter threatening to quit the company in protest over the board’s handling of Altman’s removal. By afternoon, more than 95 percent of the company had added their name to the letter.

Even ChatGPT might have struggled to dream up such a convoluted story of corporate intrigue. Questions continue to swirl around what had prompted his dismissal in the first place.