In what is a sensational move, Sam Altman, one of the founders of OpenAI, has been dismissed from the company with immediate effect by the board of directors, due to a “Loss of confidence” in his leadership. The Chief Technical Officer of the company, Mira Murati will lead the operation in the interim.
When asked for the reason for this sudden dismissal, it was revealed that Altman had not been completely candid in his communications with the leadership, which in turn, made it difficult for the board to plan the route ahead for OpenAI. He was given his fair share of opportunities to get back in line with the program, but to no avail. After due deliberation, the board decided that it was in the company’s best interest to let go of Altman.
The company has thanked Altman for his contributions towards the company, especially with the growth and development of the ChatGPT platform, but the belief is that Mira is equally qualified to lead the charge in Altman’s absence.
One cannot deny that Altman is become a bit of a household name since the dawn of AI technologies and it would be a long stretch to say that he was almost as big as OpenAI itself, and this could have had something to do with his dismissal. The announcement of the dismissal was sudden and unexpected as there were inklings of this in any of his activities.
Altman was last seen representing OpenAI on its flagship DevDay event, where he introduced the future of ChatGPT. His presentation was honest and had no indications that his job was underwire. What’s more, it is also being reported that Microsoft, who signed a multi-billion dollar partnership with OpenAI (Thanks to the efforts of Altman), were informed about the dismissal mere minutes before the official announcement.
The tech giant has however confirmed that they will be resuming the partnership with OpenAI, despite their stocks taking a dive on Friday. This is expected as the deal of the partnership entitles Microsoft to 75% of OpenAI’s profits until the investment is paid up. After that, the profit share will drop to 49%.
“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,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in a prepared statement Friday.
It will be interesting to see how OpenAI will change with new leadership, and how it’s partnership with Microsoft shapes up in the coming future. Stay tuned to this space for more updates.
