OpenAI, the company behind the popular AI models ChatGPT and DALL·E 2, has recently undergone a dramatic leadership change that has sparked controversy and speculation in the AI community. The board of directors fired Sam Altman, the co-founder and CEO of OpenAI, on November 17, 2023, citing “lack of candor” and “misalignment of vision” as the reasons for the decision.
The firing of Altman was reportedly triggered by a secret project that he was overseeing, codenamed Q*, which allegedly represented a breakthrough in artificial general intelligence (AGI), the elusive goal of creating AI systems that can perform any intellectual task that humans can. According to some sources, Q* was a new model that excelled in learning and performing mathematics, and showed signs of reasoning and common sense that surpassed existing AI technologies. However, some staff researchers at OpenAI were alarmed by the potential risks of Q*, and wrote a letter to the board warning that the project could “threaten humanity” if not handled carefully.
One of the board members who voted to fire Altman was Ilya Sutskever, the co-founder and chief scientist of OpenAI, who is considered to be one of the world’s leading experts in deep learning and neural networks. Sutskever, who had been working closely with Altman on Q*, was reportedly concerned that Altman was pushing the project too fast and too far, without adequate safety measures and ethical considerations. Sutskever also accused Altman of lying to the board and the public about the progress and the nature of Q*, and of violating the company’s mission of ensuring that AI is aligned with human values and can be widely and equitably distributed.
Altman’s firing was met with shock and outrage by many in the AI community, who saw him as a visionary leader who had advanced the field of AI significantly and had championed the cause of democratizing and regulating AI for the benefit of humanity. Among his supporters was Elon Musk, the co-founder of OpenAI, who had left the company in 2018 due to disagreements over the direction and funding of the company. Musk, who is known for his outspoken views on AI and its existential risks, tweeted that he believed that Q* was indeed a major step towards AGI, and that he expected AGI to be achieved within the next three years.
However, Altman’s firing was not the end of the story. On November 30, 2023, the board of directors announced that Altman had been rehired as the CEO of OpenAI, and that the entire board had been replaced by a new one, composed of representatives from Microsoft, Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital, and Thrive Capital, some of the major investors in OpenAI. The board also announced that Q* had been suspended pending further review and evaluation, and that the company would adopt a more transparent and collaborative approach to its research and development.
The dramatic reversal of Altman’s fate was largely orchestrated by Microsoft, which had invested $1 billion in OpenAI in 2019, and had secured a board observer role in the company as part of the deal. Microsoft, which had been collaborating with OpenAI on developing and deploying its AI models, such as ChatGPT and DALL·E 2, on its Azure cloud platform, saw Altman as a valuable partner and a strategic asset, and was not willing to let him go without a fight. Microsoft also saw Q* as a potential game-changer in the AI industry, and wanted to have a say in its development and deployment.
The recent OpenAI shakeup has significant implications for the future of AI and startups. On the one hand, it shows the immense power and influence that AI companies and investors have in shaping the direction and the pace of AI innovation, and the challenges and risks that come with pursuing AGI, which could have profound and unpredictable impacts on society and humanity. On the other hand, it also shows the importance and the possibility of having more transparency, accountability, and collaboration in the AI field, and the need for ensuring that AI is aligned with human values and can be used for good.