“Mr. 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,” the company board said in its blog post. “The board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI.”
In a post on X (formerly Twitter) Altman said:
“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.”
In a later follow-up post, he said:
i love you all.
— Sam Altman (@sama) November 18, 2023
today was a weird experience in many ways. but one unexpected one is that it has been sorta like reading your own eulogy while you’re still alive. the outpouring of love is awesome.
one takeaway: go tell your friends how great you think they are.
The news took employees by surprise, as most of them were informed about the abrupt removal through an internal announcement and the company’s public blog. OpenAI has arranged an urgent all-hands meeting on Friday afternoon to talk about the developments with its staff.
Mira Murati the Open AI – Chief Technology Officer is the interim CEO, effective immediately.
The company is now initiating a process to find a permanent successor for the CEO position.
