Sam Altman, former CEO of OpenAI, attends the AI Security Summit, the world’s first dedicated to the safe use of artificial intelligence, at Bletchley Park on November 2.
Nobody expected this to happen. But Sam Altman’s ouster from OpenAI, the company he co-founded and which led to leadership in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector, caused an unprecedented earthquake. This Monday, 500 of the company’s 700 employees signed a joint statement in which They demanded the resignation of the board of directors and Altman’s immediate reinstatement.. Otherwise, they warn, they will leave the company and join Microsoft. A test that has stumped a company that, thanks in large part to ChatGPT, is the undisputed leader around the world.
It all started last Friday when OpenAI released a brief statement in which it unexpectedly announced: about the dismissal of Altman, who still held the position of CEO. The company’s board of directors felt that he had not been “candid” and therefore they no longer had confidence in his “ability to continue to lead OpenAI.” Throughout the weekend, various media outlets reported that Altman was in talks about his return, and he posted a photo of himself at the company’s offices. But this Monday his contract with Microsoft was confirmed. Greg Brockman, who was removed from the post of chairman of the board of directors, although not fired, left with him.
“These two were the main promoters of OpenAI. But Altman was the high-profile head of the most powerful artificial intelligence company in the world. This was a complete surprise. A layoff of this magnitude requires further explanation.“Says Pablo Haya, Director of Business and Language Analytics at the Knowledge Engineering Institute. “I don’t remember such an incident. This is all speculation, but the reason is still unknown. It’s all very strange,” says Carlos Guadian, a technology and communications consultant.
Some are already comparing what happened to the firing of Steve Jobs from Apple in 1985 in terms of impact. But the reason in this case This may be due to internal power struggles within the company., which has a very specific internal structure. As Haya explains, it was founded as a non-profit organization whose goal was to develop AI in a way that would benefit all of humanity. But when they saw the huge economic opportunity in this sector, they changed the charter so that they could make money, albeit in a limited way.
Since then, OpenAI has been trying to find balance between its fundamental principles and economic profitability. And this is the responsibility of the board members, who are mostly independent and do not own shares in the company (and therefore are not motivated by economic interests). But this turns out to be difficult.
“There have never been any tangible confrontations. But Yes, there were always murmurs of criticism about the way Altman ran the company., because some said it strays from the goal of creating AI for the common good. And even more so after the explosion of ChatGPT and the alliance with Microsoft,” Guadian explains. “The crux of the matter is that the independent directors chose to fire him, using the excuse that they wanted to preserve the goal of developing AI for the well-being of humanity,” he adds.
In any case, what is certain is that Altman and Brockman are outside of OpenAI. And that Microsoft has already confirmed its signings. This was done by its CEO Satya Nadella, who said that both will lead “a new cutting-edge research group in artificial intelligence.” in your company. It’s worth remembering that the connection between the two companies is very close: Microsoft is OpenAI’s main investor with a 49% stake and uses its technology in its products. But what had happened in the past few hours had put both of them in completely different positions.
The future of OpenAI
Before all this OpenAI was on the crest of a wave, and the alliance with Microsoft strengthened its leadership.. Guardian explains that its tools are used by thousands of people every day, and that there are currently “hundreds of applications” running on ChatGPT to do their work. In addition, Haya explains that they recently launched a new product: a custom ChatGPT that paying users can create using a limited set of documents and without the need for programming knowledge. Using this tool, you can, for example, create a chat in which questions about a specific book will be answered.
But this earthquake changes everything. And this creates an atmosphere of great uncertainty about the future of the company. Altman was fired unexpectedly, during a video conference and without notice to Microsoft, the main investor. AND The brief farewell statement sparked a flurry of rumors. Without going further, Bloomberg He claims that Altman traveled to the Middle East to raise funds for a new project, codenamed Tigris, which aims to develop artificial intelligence chips.
In any case, since last Friday the gestures of support for Altman and Borkman have been constant, even from the OpenAI staff. But everything exploded with a letter addressed to the board of directors. A full-fledged ultimatum, which was supported by heavyweights in the company for example, Mira Murati, who was temporarily appointed to replace Altman as CEO, until it was confirmed that Emmett Shear, known as the co-founder of the Twitch platform, would take this position. But it was not the only one.
“It’s not just that the statement was signed by a lot of people. It was signed by some people holding key positions in the company.- says Haya. Among them are two key scientific directors for the development of ChatGPT. And also Ilya Sutskever, co-founder of the company and current member of the board of directors. He voted to fire Altman, but hours later posted a tweet saying he “deeply regretted the decision,” insisted that it was never his “intent to harm OpenAI,” and promised to do everything possible to “reunite the entire company.” .
“We have to wait to see what the board does now. But as far as I can see, there are two likely scenarios here. First, OpenAI will be able to handle this crisis, which I think will happen if the board resigns. and the new CEO knew how to handle the situation well. Another option is for all employees to move to Microsoft, which could lead to the collapse of OpenAi.. I don’t see half measures,” says Haya.
The Future of Microsoft
On the other hand, Microsoft appears to be ahead of the curve in trying to get the situation under control. Guadian explains what may be a strategic move: “At first they tried to pressure Altman to return to OpenAI, but When they saw that it was impossible, they took a second to sign it. This may seem contradictory because they have invested a lot of money in this company, but this way they ensure that they continue to move forward and can also count on their reputational balance sheet.”
As he explains, All indications are that Altman is now going to focus on developing artificial intelligence processors at Microsoft., work that will complement the agreement they continue to have with OpenAI. If they achieve this, Guadian explains, “they will be the envy of AI computing and will be guaranteed to be leaders for a long time.”
“The symbiosis between OpenAI and Microsoft was not bad, there was no reason for such a step. But given what we’ve seen, Microsoft is the first to respond to ensure the stability of its services. They have a very promising future ahead of them. them, and they could replicate OpenAI’s work. But the important thing is that They gave a vote of confidence to Altman after he was theoretically fired for being dishonest with the board.. This is an important support for him, and they have given him a free hand to further advance AI,” concludes Haya.
Source: El Independiente