ChatGPT developers
After the threat of employee revolt: Sam Altman becomes head of OpenAI again
The dismissal of OpenAI boss Sam Altman plunged the developer of the chatbot ChatGPT into a serious crisis
© Patrick T. Fallon / AFP
First out, then back in: In the wake of the leadership chaos at ChatGPT developer OpenAI, CEO Sam Altman, who had just been fired, is now set to take over the top job again. Hundreds of employees had threatened to follow Altmann to Microsoft.
A few days after his surprising dismissal, Sam Altman became head of the ChatGPT developer again OpenAI. In addition, the board of directors will be renewed, as OpenAI announced on Wednesday night.
Altman was only forced out by the old board of directors on Friday and decided on Sunday to go to OpenAI investor Microsoft. Afterwards, around 700 of OpenAI’s 770 employees threatened to follow him – which would have effectively meant the end of the company.
Sam Altmann fell victim to the dispute over Open AI
According to media reports, a dispute over direction at OpenAI led to Altman’s departure. Some executives, such as technology chief Ilya Sutskever, were of the opinion that Altman wanted to bring the artificial intelligence software to market too quickly and with too commercial an approach. They got the majority of the board of directors on their side. In the meantime, Sutskever also switched to Altman’s camp and publicly regretted his involvement in his dismissal.
OpenAI was founded in 2015 as a non-profit organization with the mission of developing artificial intelligence in the interests of everyone. However, when it became clear that donations would not raise the necessary billions in investments, a for-profit company was formed with Altman at the helm. Among other things, he brought Microsoft on board as an investor, thereby securing OpenAI’s access to the necessary computing power. However, the conflict between the two approaches became ever deeper.
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ChatGPT sparked AI hype
The chatbot ChatGPT can formulate sentences at the linguistic level of a human. Its publication around a year ago sparked AI hype. OpenAI has thus become a pioneer in the technology.
Microsoft entered into a multi-billion dollar pact with the company to bring its technology into the company’s products. Other tech heavyweights such as Google, Amazon and the Facebook group Meta presented competing software.