OpenAI CEO fired and later brought back: Why it’s more than just business
Have you been following the situation at OpenAI, creator of ChatGPT?
TOLEDO, Ohio — 10 days ago, OpenAI’s board fired its co-founder and CEO, Sam Altman, after a review found he wasn’t consistently transparent with the board. OpenAI is the maker of ChatGPT, so this isn’t only a big deal in the technology world — but the world itself.
To give you some background, according to the company, it was founded as a non-profit back in 2015, before artificial intelligence was everywhere. However, research was, in fact, happening as AI became less a figment of science fiction.
In the same announcement that Altman had been let go, OpenAI said that the company was “deliberately structured” to advance its mission of ensuring that this technology “benefits all humanity.”
In having lost its confidence in Altman’s ability to lead the company forward, the board selected someone in-house — who also oversees the company’s artificial intelligence operation — to serve as interim CEO: Mira Murati, chief technology officer.
But that wasn’t the end of OpenAI’s troubles. In fact, the following Monday would mark the hire of both Altman and another OpenAI co-founder, Greg Brockman, who served as chairman of the board — by Microsoft — to lead a new, advanced research team. The news was announced by Microsoft’s CEO on X. Satya Nadella told CNBC that the choice to work with OpenAI was intentional, whether that’s with Altman and Brockman there or at Microsoft.
“We chose to explicitly partner with OpenAI. And we want to continue to do so. And, obviously, that depends on the people of OpenAI and staying there or coming to Microsoft. So, I’m open to both options,” Nadella said.
So why should you care? For one, this isn’t just one CEO’s ouster, this is a continuation of the broader conversation about how to balance technological advancements and the impact on humanity. And that, combined with questions about governance of artificial intelligence, make for muddy waters.
