OpenAI in meltdown
Is Altman coming back?
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OpenAI stunned everyone in the AI world on Friday when the companyâs board announced it had fired CEO Sam Altman. The company put out a blog post saying it âno longer had confidenceâ in Altman as a leader, noting company Greg Brockman would be stepping down as board chair, though he would be staying with the company. That didnât last long however, as Brockman pulled an âI am Spartacusâ moment by quitting soon after.
Media stories soon swirled, suggesting OpenAIâs biggest backer *Microsoft *- which owns 49% of the AI company - had only learned of Altmanâs firing and Brockmanâs demotion a few minutes before it was made public. Needless to say, Microsoft - which has invested $13 billion in OpenAI - saw its stock price drop by a 1% on the frankly wild news.
Saturday rolled around, and there were reports that Altman was ousted for doing deals without the boardâs knowledge. Meanwhile, on the platform we used to call Twitter, many OpenAI staffers started sharing heart emojis in support of their fallen leader. Despite it being the weekend, OpenAI boardâs seemingly had their hands full as more executives stepped down, and several outlets put out reports saying the company was doing a 180 and frantically trying to rehire Altman and Brockman to their old jobs.
By Sunday, the word was Altman was considering a return to OpenAI, but only if the remaining four-person board were themselves removed. At the time of writing this newsletter (Sunday night) the board is still in place and Altman is not (yet) back in charge of OpenAI. But with the way things are going, I wouldnât be surprised if that didnât hold true for long.
**Why it matters: **OpenAI is arguably the biggest name in AI, backed by a major tech giant that has pumped tens-of-billions of dollars into the company. However, as has come to sharp relief over the weekend, OpenAI is a non-profit that oversees commercial endeavors like ChatGPT and Dall-E; while there is a _lot _of speculation about what is playing out at OpenAI, it seems there is friction about what the organization wants - and just who gets to decide that.
The New York Times | Link to story (paywall).
With everything going on with OpenAI, it seems everyone and their dog wants to know whatâs happening - including Elon Musk.
Musk confidante (and former colleague) David Sacks took to X** **to give his opinion on the chaos at OpenAI, stating âthe nonprofit should be converted to a C-corp, and Elon should get shares for putting in the first $40M+.âÂ
Musk responded to the post, suggesting that, because of the ârisk and powerâ of advanced AI, OpenAIâs board should explain why they âfelt they had to take such drastic actionâ in getting rid of Altman.
**Why it matters: **As Sacks highlights, Musk was an early backer of OpenAI, but he later soured on the organization after he reportedly sought to take it over in 2018. More recently, Musk and Altman have sparred over their competing visions of AI, so donât be too surprised if he has more to say about everything going on at OpenAI.
Business Insider | Link to story.
Meta **has disbanded its Responsible AI (RAI) team, according to **The Information.
RAI was established in 2019 to advise Meta (or Facebook, as it was then known) on its AI projects, including uncovering potential bias within training models.
A Meta spokesperson said the company will âcontinue to prioritize and invest in safe and responsible AI development,â noting former RAI staffers will âcontinue to support relevant cross-Meta efforts.â
**Why it matters: **Itâs an interesting time for Meta to break up its RAI squad - particularly as lawmakers around the globe are focusing more of their attention on AI.
