ChatGPT creator OpenAI has removed Sam Altman from his position as CEO and director of the board for allegedly lying to the company board. The board has appointed CTO Mira Murati as the interim CEO to lead the firm until Altman’s replacement is found. OpenAI said in a blog post released on November 17 that the board has lost confidence in Altman’s ability to lead the company as he was not "consistently candid in his communications" with them.
"We are grateful for Sam’s many contributions to the founding and growth of OpenAI. At the same time, we believe new leadership is necessary as we move forward. As the leader of the company’s research, product, and safety functions, Mira is exceptionally qualified to step into the role of interim CEO," the board said in a statement.
In a social media post on X, Altman said that his time at OpenAI was "transformative" for him and the world. "Most of all I loved working with such talented people. Will have more to say about what’s next later," he added.
As part of the transition in leadership, OpenAI also said that Greg Brockman, one of the co-founders and president of OpenAI, has been asked to step down as chairman of the board but he can continue in his other role at the company and report to the CEO.
Brockman said in a social media post on X that he is quitting the company altogether, "shocked" at the board’s decision. "Sam and I are shocked and saddened by what the board did today. We are still trying to figure out exactly what happened," said Brockman.
Though OpenAI did not disclose any details on what Altman was allegedly lying about, it confirms the concerns raised by many AI experts and activists who feel that companies and executives are trying to ride the AI hype cycle without being honest about its impact on society and individuals.
OpenAI was founded as a non-profit in December 2015 by Altman, Brockman, and Elon Musk. It was one of the first firms to successfully roll out AI products based on large language models (LLMs) such as GPT. Since the release and huge success of ChatGPT last November, OpenAI has raised billions of dollars. In April, the firm raised $300 million from Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and others through share sales at a valuation of $27-29 billion.
According to a September report by WSJ, OpenAI is seeking a new valuation of up to $90 billion and is in talks with investors to offload more shares.
Seeing the popularity of ChatGPT, OpenAI has also released GPT plugins allowing enterprises to integrate the foundational GPT model in their products or build and train their own model on top of it.
Microsoft, which is one of the biggest investors in OpenAI, has also integrated GPT 3.5 and GPT 4 in several of its enterprise and consumer products and services such as Azure Open AI service, Windows 11, and Bing search.
OpenAI is working on GPT-5, which Altman told Financial Times early this week, may even have superintelligence.