It was nearly a year ago when ChatGPT was released, captivating audiences worldwide. Since its launch, the popular chat program has set new records, becoming the fastest-growing consumer application in history. Within just two months of its release, it reached 100 million users globally. As of September 2023, ChatGPT has around 180.5 million users and has generated 1.5 billion visits in that month alone. ChatGPT has become a household name, with OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, emerging as the face of ChatGPT. Renowned for its ability to craft long and detailed stories, ChatGPT’s capabilities have been widely celebrated. However, not even ChatGPT could have predicted the dramatic events over the weekend of Nov 17. The OpenAI Board of Directors set in motion events that would fundamentally alter the course of OpenAI for the foreseeable future.
Ousting Altman
On Nov 17, 2023, news broke that the board had fired Altman, setting in motion a series of events that would reshape the company. The board apparently notified Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella, just minutes within the announcement. Microsoft, which has invested $13B into the startup, was reportedly livid.
The news shocked everyone, including Altman, who took to X to post about his time at the company. Greg Brockman, President, chairman, and OpenAI co-founder also resigned. Brockman is considered a super engineer and was a key figure in the development of the popular GPT-4 model. More than 90% of OpenAI employees followed suit, threatening to leave unless the board resigns and Altman is reinstated.
Rumors are swirling about what led to Altman’s dismissal. The board stated that Sam was ‘not consistently candid in his communication’. OpenAI CTO, Mira Murati, was slated to step in as interim CEO until a new one is hired.
Reinstating Altman
Amid public outcry and employee revolt, the board met with Altman at the company’s HQ in San Francisco. The company was trying to reinstate Altman, Brockman, and a trio of senior researchers who resigned in solidarity with Altman and Brockman. Talks broke down with Altman ultimately not returning to run OpenAI. It was announced that Emmett Shear, co-founder of Amazon-owned Twitch, would take over as interim CEO.
Shortly after talks broke down, Microsoft announced it would hire Altman and Brock to lead a new advanced AI research team. They also offered to match the salaries of employees leaving OpenAI at Microsoft. Salesforce and Nvidia also followed suit.
For the moment, with Altman and Brockman at Microsoft, it looked like Microsoft was the real winner in all this. They landed the central figures at OpenAI along with employees who could help them build even more sophisticated AI models.
Reinstating Altman, Take Two
The following Monday, on Nov 20, 2023, after a weekend of chaos following the removal of Altman on Friday, OpenAI announced that it had rehired Sam Altman. The move follows intense pressure from employees, investors, and tech figures who chimed in. His reinstatement would come with changes to the board, which ousted him initially. Three members of the board were removed: Helen Toner, Tasha McCauley, and Ilya Sutskever. All three had been involved in ousting Altman, with Sutskever rumored to have initiated the firing. They would be replaced by Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor, and U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, with Taylor becoming chair.
Questions Remain
It’s still unclear why Altman was really fired to begin with, although there are some theories floating around. One theory that is gaining traction is the structure of OpenAI itself. The company was initially founded as a non-profit. However, running machine learning models is expensive, and the company needed funding to grow. Without an upside for investors, the company wouldn’t be able to secure funding from venture capitalists. To address this, OpenAI created a for-profit arm whose profits would be capped at a modest 100x. Investors include Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and Tiger Global. To date, Microsoft has invested $13 billion into OpenAI. These investments come with expectations of rapid growth. This would set the two factions of OpenAI at odds with each other. The non-profit was focused on moving slowly and carefully, whereas the for-profit was largely interested in quickly developing and commercializing new AI technologies.
In the end, Altman may be the real winner in all of this. He’s solidified his influence, internally and externally, and now has the board he wanted, potentially allowing him to move even faster. Shortly before the debacle, Altman spoke of a new AI breakthrough, known as Q*, which could eventually lead to artificial general intelligence (AGI), the holy grail for AI. OpenAI defines AGI as autonomous systems that surpass humans in most economically valuable tasks. Under Altman’s leadership, ChatGPT has become the fastest-growing app of all time. Now that Altman has solidified his influence and altered the board to his liking, the stage is set for a new era at OpenAI. His relentless pursuit of advancing AI surely means more conflict in the future. The question becomes, what will the new board do then?
“You are not a wolf. And this is the land of wolves now.” – Alejandro, Sicario (2015)
