Sam Altman, the high-profile CEO of OpenAI, who became the face of the tech industry’s artificial intelligence boom, was pushed out of the company by its board of directors, OpenAI said in a blog on Friday afternoon.
The move set off a reshuffling at OpenAI, a ground-breaking AI company and the maker of the popular chatbot ChatGPT. Mira Murati, previously OpenAI’s chief technology officer, was named interim CEO, the company said. Hours later, Greg Brockman, the company’s president, said he was quitting.
“Mr. Altman’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 company said.
“The board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI.”
Leaving OpenAI is a stunning fall for Altman, 38, who over the past year had become one of the tech industry’s most prominent executives as well as one of its most fascinating characters. Last autumn, OpenAI launched an industrywide AI frenzy when it released ChatGPT.
It was not immediately clear what had led to the board’s decision beyond what its statement said. Altman could not be immediately reached for comment. In a post to X, formerly Twitter, he wrote: “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 a post to X on Friday evening, Brockman said that he and Altman had no warning of the board’s decision. “Sam and I are shocked and saddened by what the board did today,” he wrote. “We too are still trying to figure out exactly what happened.”
Altman was asked to join a video meeting with the board at noon Friday and was immediately fired, according to Brockman. Brockman said that even though he was the chair of the board, he was not part of this board meeting.
He said that the board informed him of Altman’s ouster minutes later. Around the same time, the board published a blog post.
A longtime tech entrepreneur, Altman helped found OpenAI with the financial backing of Elon Musk in 2015. He steered the small San Francisco company into rare territory — a technology leader funded by billions of dollars from Microsoft and envied by Silicon Valley giants such as Google and Meta, Facebook’s parent company.
Altman also became a spokesperson for the tech industry’s shift toward AI, testifying before Congress and charming lawmakers and regulators around the world. Many in the industry believe AI is the biggest technology shift in generations, and no one has done more to generate mainstream enthusiasm for it than Altman.
On Thursday evening, Altman appeared at an event in Oakland, California, where he discussed the future of art and artists now that AI can generate images, videos, sounds and other forms of art on its own. Giving no indication that he was leaving OpenAI, he repeatedly said he and the company would continue to work alongside artists and help to ensure that their future would be bright.
Earlier in the day, he appeared at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO Summit in San Francisco with Laurene Powell Jobs, founder and president of the Emerson Collective, and executives from Meta and Google.
Brockman, who helped found OpenAI alongside Altman, said in a post on X that he was quitting. The company said earlier in the day that he would step down as chair of the board but remain as president, reporting to the CEO.
Reached by phone, Brockman declined to comment. From OpenAI’s earliest days, he had been instrumental in shaping both its mission and its day-to-day operations.
New York Times News Service
