The picture shows icons of OpenAI's AI app ChatGPT and other AI apps on a smartphone screen in Oslo, Norway, July 12, 2023. /CFP
OpenAI president and co-founder Greg Brockman has announced his resignation with a simple "I quit" on his X account after the company fired its CEO Sam Altman.
The board of the company behind ChatGPT late on Friday fired Sam Altman – to many, the human face of generative AI – sending shockwaves across the tech industry.
"Altman's departure follows a deliberative review process by the board, which concluded that he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities," OpenAI said in the blog without elaborating.
OpenAI's chief technology officer, Mira Murati, will serve as interim CEO, the company said, adding that it will conduct a formal search for a permanent CEO.
The announcement blindsided many employees who discovered the abrupt management shuffle from an internal announcement and the company's public facing blog.
A screenshot of Greg Brockman and Sam Altman's tweet on November 17, 2023 local time.
Altman, who ran Y Combinator, is a serial entrepreneur and investor. He was the face of OpenAI and the wildly popular generative AI technology as he toured the world this year.
Altman posted on X shortly after OpenAI published its blog: "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."
Sam Altman participates in a discussion during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit, in San Francisco, United States, November 16, 2023. /CFP
Greg, who stepped down from the board as chairman as part of the management shuffle, quit the company afterwards "based on today's news," according to his message on the platform X.
Backed by billions of dollars from Microsoft, OpenAI kicked off the generative AI craze last November by releasing its ChatGPT chatbot, which became one of the world's fastest-growing software applications.
Trained on reams of data, generative AI can create brand-new human-like content, helping users spin up term papers, complete science homework and even write entire novels. After ChatGPT's launch, regulators scrambled to catch up: the European Union revised its AI Act undefined and the U.S. kicked off AI regulation efforts.
(With input from Reuters)