Sam Altman, OpenAI and Microsoft are three entities that have been involved in a recent drama in the artificial intelligence sector.
– Sam Altman was the CEO of OpenAI, a research organization that aims to create and ensure the safe use of artificial general intelligence (AGI), which is AI that can perform any intellectual task that humans can.
– OpenAI was founded in 2015 by a group of prominent tech entrepreneurs and researchers, including Altman, Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Ilya Sutskever and Greg Brockman. It started as a non-profit entity, but later created a for-profit subsidiary to attract more funding and talent.
– Microsoft is one of the biggest investors and partners of OpenAI, owning a 49% stake in the company and using its technology in its search engine, Bing. Microsoft also has its own AI research division, led by Harry Shum.
– On Friday, November 17, 2023, Altman was fired as the CEO of OpenAI by its non-profit board, which accused him of being “not consistently candid in his communications” with them. The board also removed Brockman, who was the president and co-founder of OpenAI, from his board seat.
– The firing of Altman sparked a rebellion among OpenAI’s staff and investors, who expressed their support for him and threatened to quit or move to Microsoft along with him. Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, tried to mediate the situation and negotiate Altman’s return, but Altman reportedly demanded that the board be replaced as a condition for his comeback.
– On Monday, November 20, 2023, Microsoft announced that it had hired Altman and Brockman to lead a new “advanced AI research team” within the company. Nadella said that he was “extremely excited” to welcome them and that they would work closely with OpenAI and its new interim CEO, Emmett Shear, who is the former CEO of Amazon’s streaming service, Twitch.
– The move of Altman and Brockman to Microsoft was seen as a major shakeup in the balance of power over artificial intelligence, as Microsoft gained two of the most influential and visionary leaders in the field, while OpenAI lost its co-founders and faced an uncertain future.