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THE BIG MESS, LIVE IN SAN FRANCISCO —


OPENAI EMPLOYEES REVOLT AFTER BOARD NAMES NEW CEO; ALTMAN MAY HEAD TO MICROSOFT


ILYA SUTSKEVER ANNOUNCES REGRET; 700+ OPENAI EMPLOYEES SIGN LETTER ASKING BOARD
TO RESIGN.

Benj Edwards - Updated 11/20/2023, 7:29 AM

Enlarge
Benj Edwards

READER COMMENTS

424 with

After two days of roller-coaster negotiations at OpenAI HQ due to the surprise
ouster of CEO Sam Altman, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has announced that
Microsoft plans to hire Altman and former OpenAI President Greg Brockman to head
a "new advanced AI research team." Overnight, the OpenAI board named a new
interim CEO, Emmett Shear, who acknowledged the messy process and promised to
hire an investigator to generate a full report on Altman's firing.


FURTHER READING

Details emerge of surprise board coup that ousted CEO Sam Altman at OpenAI

But the story isn't over yet, because Monday morning, 650 of 770 OpenAI
employees sent a letter to the OpenAI board demanding that all current board
members resign and Altman and Brockman be reinstated, or they will likely leave
to join Altman and Brockman at Microsoft. (Apparently the number of signatories
to the letter is still growing; see update below.)



"The process through which you terminated Sam Altman and removed Greg Brockman
from the board has jeopardized all of this work and undermined our mission and
company," the letter states. "Your conduct has made it clear you did not have
the competence to oversee OpenAI."

Enlarge / The first page of a letter sent to the OpenAI board from over 650
OpenAI staff members Monday morning.
OpenAI / Kara Swisher

Ilya Sutskever, whom sources identified as a key architect of Altman's firing,
also appears to have had a change of heart Monday morning, tweeting, "I deeply
regret my participation in the board's actions. I never intended to harm OpenAI.
I love everything we've built together and I will do everything I can to reunite
the company."

Sutskever is a deep believer in the future rise of world-changing advanced AI
(often called "AGI," for artificial general intelligence) that he thinks may one
day replace humans at numerous jobs or even threaten life on earth if not
developed safely, which is OpenAI's core mission. According to an article in The
Atlantic, Sutskever became something of a guru on the topic at OpenAI, leading
chants of "feel the AGI" during parties and even burning a wooden representation
of an "unaligned" AI in effigy offsite.

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Curiously, the undersigned in the 650-strong protest letter include both
Sutskever and former interim CEO Mira Murati, whom the board voted to replace
with Shear against the wishes of the company's executive staff. (Murati wanted
Altman and Brockman to return to OpenAI, and the board didn't.) After Murati's
removal, the letter says that the OpenAI board "informed the leadership team
that allowing the company to be destroyed 'would be consistent with the
mission.'"


AN ONGOING MESS

The latest news caps a tense weekend of negotiations that saw ups and downs as
insiders fed tips to the media. To briefly recap, the OpenAI board fired Altman
on Friday in a surprise move that shocked OpenAI staff and investors, saying
that Altman "was not consistently candid in his communications with the board."
However, many reports since have pinned the firing on an internal culture clash
between Altman and OpenAI Chief Scientist Sutskever, with Sutskever annoyed at
Altman pushing to launch GPTs when Sutskever is concerned about a future when
autonomous AI may become potentially dangerous.


FURTHER READING

OpenAI board attempts to hit “Ctrl-Z” in talks with Altman to return as CEO

On Saturday, OpenAI COO Brad Lightcap sent an internal memo saying that Altman
had not been fired due to malfeasance. Under pressure from OpenAI employees and
investors, the board invited Altman to return to OpenAI HQ on Sunday as a guest
to negotiate, but after two days, the talks broke down early Monday morning.

Through it all, a large majority of OpenAI employees have remained loyal to
Altman. Saturday morning saw hundreds of OpenAI employees posting heart emoji on
X in solidarity with Altman, who tweeted, "i love the openai team so much." And
Monday morning, hundreds of employees began posting the phrase "OpenAI is
nothing without its people," retweeting each other in solidarity.

However, key questions remain about why the board acted as it did in firing
Altman. We have not yet heard firsthand from Sutskever or the existing board
directly explaining the actual thinking behind the move. And with Sutskever now
regretting his actions and demanding the board's resignation (which technically
includes him as well), the story has taken an even stranger turn.

In reply to a tweet by Every co-founder Dan Shipper expressing regret for the
apparent breakup of OpenAI, former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer wrote, "I’m sad too -
the crazy governance model allowed this to happen. The fact that Ilya now
regrets just shows how broken and underadvised they are/were. They call them
board deliberations because you are supposed to be deliberate."

Page: 1 2 Next →



READER COMMENTS

424 with
Benj Edwards Benj Edwards is an AI and Machine Learning Reporter for Ars
Technica. In his free time, he writes and records music, collects vintage
computers, and enjoys nature. He lives in Raleigh, NC.

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CHANNEL ARS TECHNICA

UNSOLVED MYSTERIES OF QUANTUM LEAP WITH DONALD P. BELLISARIO

Today "Quantum Leap" series creator Donald P. Bellisario joins Ars Technica to
answer once and for all the lingering questions we have about his enduringly
popular show. Was Dr. Sam Beckett really leaping between all those time periods
and people or did he simply imagine it all? What do people in the waiting room
do while Sam is in their bodies? What happens to Sam's loyal ally Al? 30 years
following the series finale, answers to these mysteries and more await.

 * UNSOLVED MYSTERIES OF QUANTUM LEAP WITH DONALD P. BELLISARIO

 * UNSOLVED MYSTERIES OF WARHAMMER 40K WITH AUTHOR DAN ABNETT

 * SITREP: F-16 REPLACEMENT SEARCH A SIGNAL OF F-35 FAIL?

 * SITREP: BOEING 707

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 * MYST: THE CHALLENGES OF CD-ROM | WAR STORIES

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 * DEAD SPACE: THE DRAG TENTACLE | WAR STORIES

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   SPACEX GETS A CRUCIAL GREEN-LIGHT

 * CHRIS HADFIELD EXPLAINS HIS 'SPACE ODDITY' VIDEO

 * THE GREATEST LEAP, EPISODE 1: RISK

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