The fear and tension that led to Sam Altman's ouster at OpenAI
Sam Altman led OpenAI to the adult table of the technology industry. Thanks to its hugely popular ChatGPT chatbot, the San Francisco startup was at the center of an artificial intelligence boom, and Altman, OpenAI's CEO, had become one of the most recognizable people in tech.
But that success raised tensions inside the company. Ilya Sutskever, a respected AI researcher who co-founded OpenAI with Altman and nine other people, was increasingly worried that OpenAI's technology could be dangerous and that Altman was not paying enough attention to that risk, according to three people familiar with his thinking. Sutskever, a member of the company's board of directors, also objected to what he saw as his diminished role in the company, according to two of the people.
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Offering CollegeCourseWebsiteIIM KozhikodeIIMK Senior Management ProgrammeVisitMITMIT Technology Leadership and InnovationVisitIndian School of BusinessISB Digital TransformationVisit That conflict between fast growth and AI safety came into focus Friday afternoon, when Altman was pushed out of his job by four of OpenAI's six board members, led by Sutskever. The move shocked OpenAI employees and the rest of the tech industry, including Microsoft, which has invested $13 billion in the company. Some industry insiders were saying the split was as significant as when Steve Jobs was forced out of Apple in 1985.
But on Saturday, in a head-spinning turn, Altman was said to be in discussions with OpenAI's board about returning to the company.
The ouster Friday of Altman, 38, drew attention to a longtime rift in the AI community between people who believe AI is the biggest business opportunity in a generation and
