Sam Altman’s ousting and possible return to OpenAI: What we know

livemint.com:

ChatGPT. Almost instantly, the world’s best-known AI startup, which has been in talks to sell employee shares to investors at an $86 billion valuation, was thrown into disarray. Several people, including OpenAI President Greg Brockman, have resigned, the board is facing investor pressure to reinstate Altman and there’s a possibility the board itself resigns in the coming days.

OpenAI’s decision to fire Altman followed wide-ranging disagreements between the chief executive and his board, according to a person familiar with the matter. The debates included differences of opinion on AI safety, the speed of development of the technology and the commercialization of the company, the person said. Altman’s ambitions may have also played a role.

Altman has been looking to raise tens of billions of dollars from Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds to create an AI chip startup, according to a person with knowledge of the investment proposal. Altman was also courting SoftBank Group Corp. chairman Masayoshi Son for a multibillion-dollar investment in a new company to make AI-oriented hardware in partnership with former Apple designer Jony Ive.

The board may have been put off by Altman raising funds off of OpenAI’s name and these new companies not sharing the same governance model as OpenAI, the person said. Ilya Sutskever, an OpenAI co-founder and the company’s chief scientist, told Altman he was out and is thought to be at the center of the board’s clash with him. A month ago, Sutskever’s responsibilities at the company were reduced, reflecting friction between him and Altman and Brockman.