ChatGPT-maker Open AI pushes out co-founder and CEO Sam Altman; Here's why
San Francisco (PTI/AP): The board of ChatGPT-maker Open AI said Friday it has pushed out its co-founder and CEO Sam Altman after a review found he was “not consistently candid in his communications” with the board.
“The board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI,” the company said in a statement Friday.
It has appointed Mira Murati, OpenAI’s chief technology officer, to an interim CEO role effective immediately as it begins a search for a permanent replacement.
The company did not immediately respond to request for comment on what the alleged lack of candour was about..
The statement said Altman’s behaviour was hindering the board’s ability to exercise its responsibilities.
Altman posted Friday on X, formerly Twitter: “I loved my time at OpenAI. It was transformative for me personally, and hopefully the world a little bit. Most of all I loved working with such talented people. Will have more to say about what’s next later.”
Altman helped start OpenAI as a non-profit research laboratory in 2015.
But in the past year, he was thrust into the global spotlight as the face of OpenAI after ChatGPT exploded into public consciousness.
On a world tour earlier this year, he was mobbed by a crowd of adoring fans at an event in London.
He predicted AI will prove to be “the greatest leap forward of any of the big technological revolutions we’ve had so far”.
But he also acknowledged the need for guardrails to protect humanity from the existential threat posed by the quantum leaps being taking by computers.
“I really think the world is going to rise to the occasion and everybody wants to do the right thing,” Altman said.
As part of the transition announced on Friday, OpenAI’s president and board chairman, Greg Brockman, will be stepping down as chairman of the board but will remain in his role at the company, reporting to the CEO. The statement gave no explanation for that change.
The company said its board consists of OpenAI’s chief scientist, Ilya Sutskever, and three non-employees: Quora CEO Adam D’Angelo, tech entrepreneur Tasha McCauley, and Helen Toner of the Georgetown Centre for Security and Emerging Technology.
OpenAI’s key business partner, Microsoft, which has invested billions of dollars into the start-up and helped provide the computing power to run its AI systems, said on Friday that the transition will not affect its relationship.
“We have a long-term partnership with OpenAI and Microsoft remains committed to Mira and their team as we bring this next era of AI to our customers,” said an emailed Microsoft statement.
Altman, now 38, has been seen as a Silicon Valley wunderkind since his early 20s. He was recruited in 2014 to take lead of the start-up incubator YCombinator by its co-founder, venture capitalist Paul Graham.
Altman’s exit “is indeed shocking as he has been the face of” generative AI technology, said Gartner analyst Arun Chandrasekaran.
He said OpenAI still has a “deep bench of technical leaders” but its next executives will have to steer it through the challenges of scaling the business and meeting the expectations of regulators and society.
Forrester analyst Rowan Curran speculated that Altman’s departure, “while sudden,” did not likely reflect deeper business problems.
“This seems to be a case of an executive transition that was about issues with the individual in question, and not with the underlying technology or business,” Curran said.
Altman has a number of possible next steps. Even while running OpenAI, he placed large bets on several other ambitious projects.
Among them are Helion Energy, for developing fusion reactors that could produce prodigious amounts of energy from the hydrogen in seawater, and Retro Biosciences, which aims to add 10 years to the human lifespan using biotechnology. Altman also co-founded Worldcoin, a biometric and cryptocurrency project that’s been scanning people’s eyeballs with the goal of creating a vast digital identity and financial network.
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SC wants to know if FIRs filed over suicides of IIT student, NEET aspirant
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought to know if FIRs were registered after suicides of a IIT Kharagpur student and a NEET aspirant in Kota, Rajasthan, came to light.
A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan directed its registry to call for a report from both places at the earliest.
The top court noted a 22-year-old student studying in IIT, Kharagpur, was found hanging in his hostel room on May 4, 2025.
"The deceased was a three-year civil engineering student. His body was found hanging in his room in the Madan Mohan Malaviya Hall. The student was identified as Mohammad Asif Qamar from Bihar’s Sheohar District," the bench noted.
The top court went on, "The press reporting indicates that just moments before his death, he was on a video call with his friend in Delhi. This is one of those unfortunate suicides by a student for which we have constituted the task-force to work on the various issues relating to students suicide."
The top court previously ordered the formation of a national task force, headed by former top court judge Justice S Ravindra Bhat, to address the mental health concerns of students to prevent suicides in higher educational institutions.
The apex court said it was taking cognisance of the matter with a view to ascertain whether the management or administration of IIT, Kharagpur lodged an FIR with the local police station in accordance with its earlier directions.
It also took into account another case of suicide by a NEET aspirant who hanged herself at her room in Parshavanath area in the city ahead of the National Medical Entrants Examination scheduled on May 11.
"It is reported that the girl was under 18 years of age and hailed from Sheopur in Madhya Pradesh. She had been living with her parents in Kota (Rajasthan) and for the past several years, she was preparing for NEET-UG at a coaching institute," the court added.
The bench observed it was reportedly the fourteenth case of suicide by a coaching student in Kota, Rajasthan in 2025.
"Since January, 2025, a total of 17 cases of suicides by coaching students were reported in Kota last year. We would like to know whether an FIR has been registered in connection with this suicide also or not," the bench said.
The matter then was posted on May 13.
Outlining a disturbing pattern of student suicides in educational institutions, the apex court on March 24 directed Delhi Police to register an FIR and probe the suicidal deaths of two IIT-Delhi students from the SC/ST community.
Saying it was "high time" that it took cognisance of the "serious issue", the court ordered formulation of comprehensive and effective guidelines to address and mitigate the underlying causes contributing to such distress among students.
The bench directed the Centre to deposit Rs 20 lakh with the registry within two weeks as an outlay for the initial operations of the NTF.
Noting a "disturbing pattern" of student suicides were being reported from various educational institutes, the apex court said these tragedies underscored the urgent need for a more robust, comprehensive and responsive mechanism to address various factors which compel students to resort to taking their own lives.
