Ilya Sutskever and over 700 out of ~770 OpenAI staffers sign a letter saying they may quit and join Sam Altman unless the board resigns and reinstates Altman

- Majority of OpenAI employees sign letter seeking new board — Board member Ilya Sutskever is among the signatories

Bloomberg 2023-11-21

Discussion

@carnage4life Dare Obasanjo on threads
The audacity of writing such a strongly worded letter about the incompetence of the OpenAI board and signing it when you were the ringleader of activity is truly incredible.
@karaswisher Kara Swisher on x
Breaking: 505 of 700 employees @OpenAI tell the board to resign. [image]
@lilianweng Lilian Weng on x
About 650 / 770 signed at this moment. As people start waking up, more will come. All the efforts started after 1:30 AM, 500+ within two hours and all of this after 2 crazy days with very little sleep.
@karaswisher Kara Swisher on x
Breaking: 550 of 700 employees @OpenAI tell the board to resign. [image]
@eriktorenberg Erik Torenberg on x
Why is the OpenAI board not saying anything? Nearly all of Silicon Valley is defending the other side, and barely anyone one is speaking up for the individual board members because it's hard to defend someone who won't defend themselves. When no one hears from you, everyone... [i…
@pmarca Marc Andreessen on x
I got nothing. [image]
@robleathern Rob Leathern on x
These 30+ people with work visas are putting themselves at significant risk - a sign they and the rest of the team believe very strongly in SamA (and that the OAI board is 🤡)
@coloradotravis @coloradotravis on x
One of the things Effective Altruism has gotten wrong, other than everything, is that moral frameworks are akin to language, money, or governance — they are large shared tropes that evolve slowly. You do not invent them out of whole cloth with your web forum buddies.
@paulg Paul Graham on x
The idea of a standoff between 3 board members and 95% an organization's employees is so unprecedented that it seems almost grammatically ill-formed. I wouldn't have thought such a thing was even possible. If 95% doesn't count as a vote of no confidence, what number would?
@e0m Evan Morikawa on x
743 now. >95% of the company
@schrep Mike Schroepfer on x
I was an exec at @mozilla when @Google decided that the browser was too critical to be run by a nonprofit they don't control. Sounds a lot like @Microsoft and @OpenAI today. This is an unstable structure at its core. Hope all my friends over there are doing ok
@janleike Jan Leike on x
I think the OpenAI board should resign
@levie Aaron Levie on x
Each passing hour creates more risk and uncertainty for developers and startups, and they will start to plan accordingly. And with the talent drain to Microsoft, it's not even obvious what would exist afterwards. For the sake of OpenAI, this needs to get resolved.
@shakoistslog Shako on x
You know a more parsimonious explanation for why the OpenAI employees are acting “cultish” is because they're all about to lose literally millions of dollars each.
@davidsacks David Sacks on x
OpenAI got the hard things right and the easy things wrong. The hard thing was developing world-changing technology after years of toil. The easy thing was setting up a C-corp with a proper board and ceo comp package. This will be studied for years.
@tszzl Roon on x
board of directors should be modeled more or less at the level of delusion and dysfunction of the cia at the bay of pigs or Cheney in Iraq: they thought “they will greet us as liberators” instead, they face full scale employee rebellion
@nivi @nivi on x
“Employees... refused to attend an emergency all-hands scheduled on Sunday with new CEO Emmett Shear” [image]
@alexrkonrad Alex Konrad on x
Updated our story as OpenAI employee signatures on their petition for board to resign reaches 95%. The big question at this point is who *hasn't* signed... presumably about 10 ppl or less out of the ENTIRE company 🤯 https://www.forbes.com/...
@tszzl Roon on x
the board of directors of openai have a fiduciary duty to “humanity” first and foremost I wish humanity had better legal representation because they have completely, monumentally failed do your duty and resign
@10x_er @10x_er on x
OpenAI is nothing without its GPUs
@jowyang Jeremiah Owyang on x
It's in Microsoft's interest to hire the OpenAI employees to gut OpenAI and build the Advanced AI team at Microsoft, a wild scenario: -Microsoft offers *each* of the 770 employees a “modest” $10,000,000 ($10M) signing bonus. -That would cost a meager $7.7B. -A $82.3B saving...
@maxwinebach Max Weinbach on x
Anthropic is about to have a great week
@mickeyxfriedman Mickey Friedman on x
OpenAI Letter to the board: “You also informed the leadership team that allowing the company to be destroyed ‘would be consistent with the mission.’” OpenAI's team exemplifies the pinnacle of human innovation and the board was willing to put it to waste. It is tragic.
@polynoamial Noam Brown on x
Everyone at @OpenAI is united against the board's actions. This is not a civil war. It's an entire company versus a couple out of touch board members.
@mustafasuleyman Mustafa Suleyman on x
Utterly insane weekend. So sad. Wishing everyone involved the very best. In the meantime, we finished training Inflection-2 last night! ✨ It's now the 2nd best LLM in the world... & we're scaling MUCH further. Details v soon. Come run with us!
@reedalbergotti Reed Albergotti on x
Big question all weekend was whether the board wanted OpenAI to exist and blundered, or whether it was willing to destroy the company completely. It was the latter, according to this employee letter. Incredible. [image]
@kantrowitz Alex Kantrowitz on x
500+ OpenAI employees are still calling for Sam's reinstatement, threatening to go to Microsoft. At this point, it must be over. Satya is not going to let Altman return. Especially now that the market is open. What's done is done. Can there be any other way?
@fforres @fforres on x
I think the OpenAI board should resign.
@ajt Alexander Taub on x
It's best not to make predictions on the OpenAI saga at this point. You will only look foolish in 24 hours.
@chrisjbakke Chris Bakke on x
Live view of the 16 outside law firms representing Microsoft, OpenAI, Khosla, Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, Emmett Shear, Cruise, Kyle Vogt, and everyone else in the AI space who have each had 40 partners billing $3,500/hr around the clock for 72 hours this weekend: [image]
@rrhoover Ryan Hoover on x
OpenAI should be a DAO 😈
@ronconway Ron Conway on x
The great team of OpenAI—who know better than anyone else what they have been responsibly building with Sam & Greg—are voting with their feet. This board must go. Stop the coup.
@levie Aaron Levie on x
The board governing the roll out of super-intelligence couldn't understand game theory enough to think 1 step ahead in a coup of their beloved leaders. [image]
@danshipper Dan Shipper on x
Honestly, this is all just deeply sad. Something very special broke this weekend. There will be new things to be excited about soon, but right now I feel grief.
@patrickmoorhead Patrick Moorhead on x
As I stated this weekend, leadership is one thing, but the people who create things are another. The board is toast. $MSFT
@pearlf Pearl Freier on x
Crazy situation (this is after the co-founder & board director below told reportedly told everyone last night he didn't want the CEO he ousted to come back, announced a new CEO, & after Microsoft made their announcement in response & whatever else happened after that with...
@marissamayer @marissamayer on x
I'm sad too - the crazy governance model allowed this to happen. The fact that Ilya now regrets just shows how broken and underadvised they are/were. They call them board deliberations because you are supposed to be deliberate.
@danshipper Dan Shipper on x
All of the hearts, and love, and forgiveness this weekend is such an interesting look at OpenAI's internal culture. Truly special. Can you imagine this happening in the same situation at McKinsey?
@jon_charb Jon Charbonneau on x
This honestly might've been the only sequence of events possible in corporate governance to make DAOs look well-managed
@ceterispar1bus @ceterispar1bus on x
somehow openai's governance is worse than the cosmos hub
@woj_zaremba Wojciech Zaremba on x
I think the OpenAI board should resign
@mattpaulsonsd Matt Paulson on x
Passing on investing in OpenAI at a $30B valuation feels smart now.
@gergelyorosz Gergely Orosz on x
OpenAI imploding: all triggered by their board. Hard to see how the outcome is anything else than 2/3rds of the company joining Microsoft as soon as today/tomorrow. The time when the board could have resigned and brought back Sam and Greg passed when the board hired a new CEO.
@quantian1 @quantian1 on x
If I were trying to control a vast and malevolent alien intelligence I would simply use an ancient and powerful artifact to let me bend it to my will, ideally involving glowing crystals. Are the OpenAI people all morons or something?
@deenashakir Deena Shakir on x
this openai drama is like an entire season of succession condensed into 48 hours 🤯
@muneeb @muneeb on x
Sam's new startup got effectively acquired by Satya on Day 0. A lot of accelerationists will join and have unlimited compute on hand. It's a good time to turn OpenAI fully open-source and shift focus to safety research. The for-profit part of OpenAI likely destroyed the most.
@dharmesh @dharmesh on x
In this entire OpenAI drama, one thing I'd like to get out there (regardless of where things land). Just because the OpenAI board had the legal right to do what it did doesn't make it right. I'm team (Alt + Brock)man. I support all the people of OpenAI. They're working...
@jimcramer Jim Cramer on x
Only ANT Financial can compare to the capital destruction of OpenAI
@alecstapp Alec Stapp on x
Good luck to everyone who has to explain the OpenAI stuff to their family at Thanksgiving
@joannastern Joanna Stern on x
When the tech industry became one collective hallucination!
@smtuffy Sean Tuffy on x
I assume the open revolt at OpenAI has a lot to do with the board flushing the billion dollars earmarked for staff down the drain?
@lex_node @lex_node on x
the same problem with OpenAI's board exists with every DAO that relies too heavily on delegation, esp. delegation to “student groups” and other random policy/governance types lacking skin in the game [image]
@jamespmcleod James McLeod on x
If only there was some well-established structure whereby workers could organize and take collective action.
@samaugustdean Sam Dean on x
The AI company is...a model of collective labor action??
@gtconway3d George Conway on x
Is that bad for a business? It seems bad
@rustybrick Barry Schwartz on x
I guess Microsoft can hire them...
@gerstenzang Sam Gerstenzang on x
Ilya is a signee!! Truly never seen anything like this.
@cpojer Christoph Nakazawa on x
After the letter, I think Sam is going to be CEO of OpenAI again within 48 hours.
@mcbyrne @mcbyrne on x
Super sad that these workers side with a theilite and not the board. SV needs to get over their obsession with founders.
@tlbtlbtlb Trevor Blackwell on x
Schisms are good, actually.
@parmy Parmy Olson on x
Question now is whether OpenAI's board resigns, or holds firm and watches nearly the entire company walk over to Microsoft.
@refsrc Manish Singh on x
Wow — Microsoft has extended job offers to all employees at OpenAI. [image]
@shaig Shai Goldman on x
Imagine getting 72% of your workforce to revolt
@rivertamydn @rivertamydn on x
You fools, you didn't grow headcount fast enough to make it impossible for the employees to organize
@ceciliazin Cecilia Ziniti on x
Memorandum to the board signed by both of general counsel and the chief legal and strategy officer. I can't see the board staying after this.
@mattyglesias Matthew Yglesias on x
Board's gotta stick to their guns and be legends imo
@kantrowitz Alex Kantrowitz on x
Ilya Sutskever among those telling the board to resign [image]
@leokelion Leo Kelion on x
Amazing to see @ilyasut has signed the letter demanding the board (which he sits on) quits and suggesting he and others may leave OpenAI to work directly for Microsoft.
@jeremywired Jeremy White on x
Well, indeed... anyhow: https://www.wired.com/... [image]
r/neoliberal r on reddit
Hundreds of OpenAI employees threaten to resign and join Microsoft
r/ChatGPT r on reddit
505 out of 700 employees at OpenAI tell the board to resign.
r/OpenAI r on reddit
OpenAI Staff Threaten to Quit Unless Board Resigns
r/technology r on reddit
OpenAI Staff Threaten to Quit Unless Board Resigns
r/technology r on reddit
Sacked OpenAI boss Sam Altman to join Microsoft
r/anime_titties r on reddit
Sacked OpenAI boss Sam Altman to join Microsoft
@mranthropology Richard Stroffolino on threads
Not a done deal but they just want to confirm he has all the leverage rather than have it assumed
@mattyglesias Matthew Yglesias on x
Life lessons: — Don't invest capital in a company with weird governance unless you're prepared for weird shit to happen — Don't instigate drama without a plan to explain your side of the story to the public
@austen @austen on x
I can see why the big backers of OpenAI are frustrated right now. Going after the newly-appointed CEO for having had open-minded twitter conversations about obscure and taboo topics is not the solution.
@eladgil Elad Gil on x
At this point it seems very clear OpenAI board should merge with OpenTable to form OpenTableAI Brand matters #marketing #GrowthMindset
@gssp_acc @gssp_acc on x
We're all happy for Sam right now but when we come back to this in a year it will be apparent that OpenAI “merging” into Microsoft means AI just got a lot *more* closed-source, locked-in, data-farmed, corporately micro-managed, and government regulated
@dkthomp Derek Thompson on x
There is only one obvious winner of the last 100 hours, and it's business school professors who have been looking for a sexy anecdote to get students interested in the principle that corporate structure is really important [image]
@landay Dr. James Landay on x
Thoughts on the @OpenAI drama. Yet another reason we need academic AI centers like @stanfordhai—we can't leave the important issues in AI to industry players who have conflicting values they can't manage—as the outcome here shows, money wins in industry rather than good ideas.
@winnyeth Winny Dot Ethereum on x
honestly i think kris jenner should just be the openai ceo
@brenthoberman Brent Hoberman on x
On @OpenAI board structure. Governance gurus could look to the @guardian media group ownership by The Scott Trust (charity) for lessons. That business navigates the charity mission with the profit seeking nature of the business without as much management drama as OpenAI. Still...
@alexeheath Alex Heath on x
One of the wilder things to me about this whole saga is that no investors in OpenAI have been told why Altman was fired by the board beyond the public statements, like nada
@matei_zaharia Matei Zaharia on x
Sad about the chaos around OpenAI, which was crazier than anyone imagined, and how it's affecting people, especially those on visas. I hope everyone lands on their feet!
@stevemoraco @stevemoraco on x
so openai blew up but we got SOTA open source image -> video and video -> text models!?! what a weekend.
@emollick Ethan Mollick on x
I have the growing feeling that the entire OpenAI debacle is going to be much less about four dimensional strategic chess and more about human mistakes, errors, confusion & conflicting motives. As it almost always is.
@alexeheath Alex Heath on x
More: New CEO Emmett Shear has so far been unable to get written documentation of the board's reasons for firing Altman, which also haven't been shared with investors Employees responded to his announcement in OpenAI's Slack with a “fuck you” emoji https://www.theverge.com/...
@rikefranke Ulrike Franke on x
I have obviously no insights in what's going on at OpenAI but these are the same people who self-proclaim they are developing the most promising and possibly most dangerous technology ever. And they can't run a company. That's not comforting.
@wholemarsblog @wholemarsblog on x
Say what you want about the OpenAI board, but they've proven beyond doubt this past weekend that they are the only people on Earth who can be trusted to competently guide the development of this technology
@goodside Riley Goodside on x
A belated ❤️ for @sama, @gdb, @miramurati, @karpathy, @BorisMPower, @AndrewMayne, and too many others to name at OpenAI. Your work has changed my life and I'm sure countless more. Whatever happens, we're lucky to have such talented people bringing the world closer to AGI.
@gdb Greg Brockman on x
💯 Cannot overstate the level of pride & respect I feel for @miramurati @bradlightcap @jasonkwon and the rest of the leadership team for their response to this crisis. One team, one mission.
@alexeheath Alex Heath on x
Breaking with @reckless: Sam Altman and Greg Brockman's move to Microsoft isn't a done deal. They are still plotting a return to OpenAI. Pressure is on the board to still resign gracefully after the flipping of Ilya Sutskever last night https://www.theverge.com/...
@eriqgardner Eriq Gardner on x
Saul Goodman is doing a hell of a job lawyering this one.
@zeitchikwapo Steven Zeitchik on x
You've got to be kidding me https://www.theverge.com/...
@anothercohen Alex Cohen on x
Following [image]
@alexeheath Alex Heath on x
Exhibit A: you don't say this when you are for sure going to Microsoft
r/ChatGPT r on reddit
Here's A Full Recap of EVERYTHING At OpenAI Over the Last 83 Hours
r/singularity r on reddit
Sam Altman is still trying to return as OpenAI CEO
r/technology r on reddit
Sam Altman is still trying to return as OpenAI CEO
r/OpenAI r on reddit
Sam Altman is still trying to return as OpenAI CEO
@emilychangtv Emily Chang on x
The more I watch this interview - the wilder this story seems. Satya insists he hasn't been given any reason why Sam was fired. THE CEO OF MICROSOFT STILL DOES NOT KNOW WHY: “I've not been told about anything...” he tells me. https://www.youtube.com/...
@alexeheath Alex Heath on x
Satya Nadella just did interviews on CNBC and Bloomberg TV and made clear that it's very possible Altman could go back to OpenAI, as we first reported he's still willing to do today. He could not answer @emilychangtv's question about who will be CEO of OpenAI tomorrow “We will...
@karaswisher Kara Swisher on x
Coming up, a joint On With Kara Swisher and Pivot 30 min interview with @Microsoft CEO @satyanadella in which he says, among other things, that he felt he should have been informed earlier as a partner of @OpenAI and that will change in the future.
@emilychangtv Emily Chang on x
Oh, and Satya definitely signals a willingness for Sam to return to OpenAI, talks about his convos with Emmett so far, his vision for Sam and Greg at MSFT *if* that's where they end up, whether Sam would be able pursue side projects there, etc.
@tszzl Roon on x
the update for me and likely for many others is the benevolence of Microsoft aligned via normal capital mechanisms and the total destructive power of a nonprofit board armed with good intentions
@danprimack Dan Primack on x
Satya Nadella says he's fine if @sama returns to OpenAI.
@emilychangtv Emily Chang on x
My full interview with @satyanadella about the state of play, why @sama actually got fired, and who will be the CEO of @OpenAI tomorrow. https://www.bloomberg.com/... [image]
@amaldorai Amal Dorai on x
As usual, a master stroke of communication from Satya Nadella to OpenAI employees. Satya says: 1) I'm not trying to poach Sam - he's free to return 2) but if you guys want a home, let it be at Microsoft 3) whichever way it goes, I'm in charge here.
@elonmusk Elon Musk on x
@emilychangtv Maybe someone should tell him
@alexrkonrad Alex Konrad on x
uhhh @satyanadella hedging big time on-air with @emilychangtv about whether Sam Altman is actually joining Microsoft. “Either way, we'll be working with Sam...” (Subplot: when the dust settles, Satya will have vengeance on *someone* for having to do so much press) [image]
@amir Amir Efrati on x
Why did @satyanadella go on CNBC this afternoon, you ask? His shiny new AI cloud business, which is powered by openai, is imperiled.👇
@mikeisaac Rat King on x
Satya is on CNBC and Bloomberg basically saying they want OpenAI's board gone. My suspicion is that they would much rather have OpenAI survive and hit the reset button to 72 hours ago with sam at the helm then have to redo all of this stuff in house.
@danprimack Dan Primack on x
3/ Satya acknowledges that he wants some governance changes at OpenAI, but also is giving this “oh shucks, we're ok whatever happens” act. Sam/Greg “in process of joining.” That's different from having joined.
@hamids Hamid on x
Huh. I liked Satya about 20% more before he started giving interviews about OpenAI. Summary of this interview: “Sam, Sam, Sam, OpenAI, Sam, partnership, Sam, Sam and oh did I say Sam?”
@toddbishop @toddbishop on x
Question from @emilychangtv : “You, incredibly quicky, hired Sam, as well as Greg. We are hearing that Sam wants to return, investors want him to return to OpenAI. How would you feel about that?” @satyanadella: “We really want to partner with OpenAI, and we want to partner with..…
@jakuuire Joseph on x
Translation: The board needs to go
@kyliebytes Kylie Robison on x
Im partnered with OpenAI and I'm partnered with Sam, Satya Nadella said on @BloombergTV chuckling as he said — and thats exactly where I am Monday. Regardless of where Sam is, he's working with Microsoft, Nadella said. That was the case Friday, its the case today, and it'll be...
@ilyasut Ilya Sutskever on x
OpenAI's Ilya Sutskever says “I deeply regret my participation in the board's actions”, “I never intended to harm OpenAI”, and will try “to reunite the company”
r/singularity r on reddit
The more I watch this interview - the wilder this story seems. Satya insists he hasn't been given any reason why Sam was fired. …
r/technology r on reddit
Microsoft CEO Nadella says OpenAI governance needs to change no matter where Altman ends up
@mgsiegler M.G. Siegler on x
Yes. Microsoft pretty clearly *does not* want to hire Sam and all of OpenAI, it was simply the last option left after the board balked this weekend. That's why the door (and statements made) are still open to everyone returning to OpenAI if (when) the board situation is sorted.
@eastdakota Matthew Prince on x
In other words: sometimes owning a call option on an asset is better for multiple reasons than owning the asset itself. Last week Microsoft roughly owned a call option on OpenAI. Today, at best, they own some fraction of the asset itself.
@bryce Bryce Roberts on x
“I think the chances of the senior OpenAI folks still being at Microsoft in 3 years is asymptotically approaching zero.”
@stevehouf Steve Hou on x
I agree with this actually. Esp this para: “see DeepMind within Google for how all the smartest people in AI can still get stymied by the bureaucracy of a giant company” Call option + downside protection (plausible deniability) was valuable to MSFT is also potentially lost.
@trav_winn Travis on x
If @satyanadella could have recruited/acquihired @sama and co prior to an $11b investment in OpenAI then that would have been great. But now you're having to in-house sam and team while staring down your $11b in a company that's incinerating from the inside
@asemota Osaretin Victor Asemota on x
We still don't know the full details of why the board fired Sam. MS wanted to eat their cake and still have it with the OpenAI structure and it made some sense. What doesn't make sense is why they had no board observer role. I don't believe they were caught unawares. They knew.
@karaswisher Kara Swisher on x
Interesting counter view by @eastdakota on @Microsoft and @OpenAI. My question: could they have anticipated THIS? And now they will, if you want to hear @satyanadella say it clearly in my interview tonight.
@kantrowitz Alex Kantrowitz on x
I think this is mostly spot on

Chronicles

Ilya Sutskever and over 700 out of ~770 OpenAI staffers sign a letter saying they may quit and join Sam Altman unless the board resigns and reinstates Altman

Related Coverage

Discussion