Why Sam Altman left OpenAI: This may be the real reason

The scandal resulting from his dismissal and subsequent reinstatement Sam Altman how CEO to OpenAI New details continue to be revealed about the reason that prompted the Board of Directors to decide to expel Founding partner Company.

Since the news of the dismissal Altmanmid-November 2023, various media, employees of OpenAI Followers of the businessman questioned part of the company’s statement that attempted to explain the decision: “The businessman could have been”Slightly transparent In his communications with the Council.”

Although it was initially reported that the reason for the dismissal was the alleged discovery of artificial intelligence With destructive potential, the magazine The New Yorker He suggested that this indicated Altman’s “manipulative and conspiratorial” attitudes and that they intended to manipulate the board into expelling one of its members: Helen Toner.

Executive Director, who in turn serves as Director of Strategy and Research Grants at the Center for Security and Emerging Technology of Georgetown UniversityThat would have caught attention Altman When she introduced herself as co-author of A investigation Which suggests that companies can demonstrate their commitment to user safety through words and actions that a business person would consider “expensive.”

particularly, ink He noted that the company might be more committed to enhancing user security if it delayed the launch of a artificial intelligence Until a product with similar capabilities appears. This is rather than announcing the arrival of AI the way it does OpenAI This generates frenzied motivation in users.

to publish The New Yorker He claims that although Toner went so far as to apologize to the board for the scientific paper he helped write, Altman began reaching out to individual board members “to turn them against each other by lying about what others thought.”

And after this and after Altman It has been separated from OpenAI, Microsoft It has had various statements on the matter through its executives. Especially the company’s operations manager Brad LightcapHe had already indicated that the AI ​​company’s decision was not due to “bad practices or anything related to our financial, business, security, or safety/privacy practices.”

Lightcap indicated that the main reason was due to “a failure in communication between SAM and the Board of Directors,” which was repeated by the head of Microsoft, Brad Smithin conversation with ReutersWhich considered that there was “a disagreement between the boards, but it has nothing to do with a concern of this kind (the appearance of A artificial intelligence with destructive potential).

For his part, the CEO of Microsoft said: Satya NadellaHe spoke through his official account s (The social network formerly known as Twitter) in which he dedicated words of gratitude to the team of the two companies for overcoming the problems in which they were involved.

“The greatest privilege of my job is working with people who have specific goals,” he said in his application. Moreover, he noted that even during the period when Altman left OpenAIThe company’s workers remained “calm and determined to move forward with their mission despite everything that was happening around them.”

On the other hand, the Executive Director said: Microsoft He also emphasized that in the company he manages, he mainly focuses on serving its key customers and partners.

“Thank you for your determination and for the work you do every day to develop artificial intelligence safely and responsibly and distribute its benefits to all of humanity,” Nadella said in the post, to which they both responded. Maggi hot (GTM Leadership at OpenAI) and Michael Shady (OpenAI Strategic Project Leader).