There are turbulent days behind OpenAI. Because the company board surprisingly fired co-founder and ChatGPT developer Sam Altman. Now over 500 of a total of around 700 employees could follow him to Microsoft. So was that it with ChatGPT? A comment.
OpenAI looks back on a turbulent weekend. Because the company had three different CEOs within three days. After co-founder and ChatGPT developer Sam Altman was unexpectedly fired by the board, chief technology officer Mira Murati was initially supposed to lead the company on an interim basis.
But she didn't even hold the position for 48 hours. Because OpenAI presented a new interim CEO, former Twitch boss Emmett Shear, just three days after the dismissal of his co-founder. In the meantime, the return of Sam Altman was even under discussion after many investors and employees went on the barricade.
OpenAI: Absolute chaos after firing Sam Altman
Such chaos is actually only known from Elon Musk and X (formerly Twitter). But now it is clear: Sam Altman is moving to Microsoft and will lead a new AI research team there. But it's not just co-founder Greg Brockman who accompanies him. Things could get tough for OpenAI.
According to a letter to the board, 505 of around 700 employees threatened to leave the company if Altman and Brokman were not rehired. This comes from a report in the tech magazine, among other things Wired and one X-Post by journalist Kara Swisher.
Accordingly, Microsoft assured OpenAI employees that it had positions for everyone in its new AI research department. The OpenAI board did not comply with the demand to resign and reinstate its two co-founders.
Is this the end of ChatGPT?
Microsoft, which had already invested in OpenAI, would essentially acquire a large part of the company for free. If the relevant employees carried out their threat, the OpenAI board would probably have driven the company into the wall within a weekend.
The signatories of the letter not only asserted that they see their jobs at risk as a result of the decision, but also reject the supervisory board's allegations that ChatGPT was developed too quickly without regard to security.
After the hiccup surrounding the dismissal of Sam Altman, who was considered the face of ChatGPT, the company is not only losing its external impact. If over half of the employees really leave the company, would OpenAI still be able to do business and compete?
Quite honestly: a board of directors that doesn't even begin to foresee all of this is ultimately risking not only one of the most up-and-coming companies in the world, but also – even despite all the justified criticism on the subject of artificial intelligence – the jobs of hundreds of people.
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Source: https://www.basicthinking.de/blog/2023/11/20/chatgpt-ende-openai-eigenes-grab/
