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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Indian-origin woman stabbed to death at bus stop in London
London, May 14: A 22-year-old man charged with the murder of a 66-year-old Indian-origin woman as she waited at a bus stop in north-west London has been remanded in custody at a hearing on Tuesday.
Anita Mukhey, who worked part-time for the National Health Service (NHS) as a medical secretary, was waiting at the Burnt Oak Broadway bus stop in the Edgware area of London last week when Jalal Debella is accused of fatally stabbing her in the chest and neck.
He appeared at the Old Bailey Court in London and will enter his plea of guilty or not guilty at the next hearing in the case scheduled for August.
“Police were called at around 11:50hrs on Thursday, 9 May, to reports of a stabbing in Burnt Oak Broadway,” the Metropolitan Police said.
“Officers, London Ambulance Service (LAS) and London’s Air Ambulance (HEMS) all attended the scene, where a 66-year-old woman was treated for knife wounds. Sadly, despite the best efforts of emergency services, she died at the scene. Her family have been informed,” the police said.
Debella was arrested on suspicion of murder in the Colindale area of north London later on May 9 and charged with Mukhey’s murder and also for possession of an offensive weapon. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) told the court that a preliminary cause of death was found to be sharp force injuries to the front of the chest and neck.
“Anita Mukhey, 66 years old, was a married mother and grandmother devoted to her family, who also worked part-time in the NHS as a Medical Secretary. The family ask for privacy at this difficult time,” Mukhey’s family said in a statement issued via the police.
According to reports, members of the public screamed and shouted at the suspect to stop as the daylight attack sent shockwaves across the community.
