Founder vulnerability in technology ecosystem is worrying: Indian startup industry leaders
OpenAI cofounder and chief executive Sam Altman being ousted by the company’s board, expressed shock at the development while highlighting the continued challenges that technology firms face in defining a founder’s control over their companies.
While the reasons behind the sudden removal of Altman, who has emerged as the most prominent name in the generative artificial intelligence (AGI) space, was still not clear, multiple executives ET spoke to said the development would affect the pace of evolution of AI and puts the lens on the composition of boards at tech startups, globally.
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In a statement on Friday, OpenAI said, “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 board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI.”
Besides Altman, and OpenAI’s cofounder and president Greg Brockman, who also quit on Friday, the company’s board comprised chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, Quora CEO Adam D’Angelo, tech entrepreneur Tasha McCauley, Georgetown Center for Security and Emerging Technology’s Helen Tone.
Altman was previously the president of Silicon Valley’s famed accelerator Y Combinator which has backed some of the biggest US tech firms including payments major Stripe, home-sharing platform Airbnb, and Dropbox, a file
