OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT has fired CEO Sam Altman and removed co-founder Greg Brockman from the board after a quick call on Google Meet.
In a post on X, Greg Brockman and Sam Altman expressed shock and sadness over the board’s actions. “Sam and I are shocked and saddened by what the board did today,” read the post.
“Let us first say thank you to all the incredible people who we have worked with at OpenAI, our customers, our investors, and all of those who have been reaching out. We too are still trying to figure out exactly what happened. Here is what we know,” Greg Brockman posted on X.
“Last night, Sam got a text from Ilya asking to talk at noon Friday. Sam joined a Google Meet and the whole board, except Greg, was there. Ilya told Sam he was being fired and that the news was going out very soon,” Brockman said.
“As far as we know, the management team was made aware of this shortly after, other than Mira who found out the night prior. The outpouring of support has been really nice; thank you, but please don’t spend any time being concerned. We will be fine. Greater things coming soon,” said on overwhelmed Brockman.
“At 12:19pm, Greg got a text from Ilya asking for a quick call. At 12:23pm, Ilya sent a Google Meet link. Greg was told that he was being removed from the board (but was vital to the company and would retain his role) and that Sam had been fired. Around the same time, OpenAI published a blog post,” he added.
On the other side, Sam Altman, also took to X and expressed, “I loved my time at OpenAI. it was transformative for me personally, and hopefully the world a little bit. most of all I loved working with such talented people. will have more to say about what’s next later.”
In the next X post, “I love you all. today was a weird experience in many ways. but one unexpected one is that it has been sorta like reading your own eulogy while you’re still alive. The outpouring of love is awesome.”
According to OpenAI, the billionaire and AI evangelist’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 said it “no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI.”
(With inputs from IANS)
