© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Sam Altman, CEO of Microsoft-backed OpenAI and ChatGPT creator speaks throughout a chat at Tel Aviv College in Tel Aviv, Israel June 5, 2023. REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Picture
By Anna Tong
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s firing was over a “breakdown in communication between Sam and the board,” and never “malfeasance or anything related to our financial, business, safety, or security/privacy practices,” Chief Working Officer Brad Lightcap wrote in an inside firm memo Saturday morning, seen by Reuters.
The board of OpenAI, the corporate behind hit product ChatGPT, on Friday pushed out its high-profile CEO Altman, sending shock waves throughout the tech trade. The corporate appointed former chief know-how officer Mira Murati as interim CEO.
The firing got here as a shock to Altman, and in addition blindsided many workers who found the abrupt administration change from the corporate’s public dealing with weblog, in response to an X publish from Greg Brockman, the previous OpenAI president and co-founder. Brockman stop shortly after Altman was fired. One other senior researcher, Szymon Sidor, confirmed to Reuters that he had stop as effectively.
“Team – after yesterday’s announcement, which took us all by surprise, we have had multiple conversations with the board to try to better understand the reasons and process behind their decision. These discussions, and options regarding our path forward, are ongoing this morning,” Lightcap wrote within the memo.
“We can say definitively that the board’s decision was not made in response to malfeasance or anything related to our financial, business, safety, or security/privacy practices,” he wrote. “This was a breakdown in communication between Sam and the board.”
“We still share your concerns about how the process has been handled, are working to resolve the situation,” he added within the be aware. “Our collective responsibility right now is to our teammates, partners, users, customers, and the broader world who shares our vision of broadly beneficial AGI.”
