Discussion

• @pkafka Peter Kafka on threads

  Reminder that boards almost never, ever do this.  And even when they do boot someone, they dress it up with “pursue other opportunities/stay on as a consultant” bs.

• @danielraffel Daniel Raffel on threads

  Zuck's leadership reign is all the more impressive on days like today.

• @dkthomp Derek Thompson on threads

  I'm trying to think of a business-history precedent for the world's most famous startup (I think fair to say?) abruptly, and without warning or rumor, firing its founder-CEO-corporate mascot in a move that also lost them the chairman and president of the company—and dumped the st…

• @mike_isaac Mike Isaac on threads

  a shitshow by all accounts but at least it wasn't on thanksgiving weekend

• @katienotopoulos Katie Notopoulos on threads

  *dont do it katie dont do it stop it don't do it do not post that* So thrilled to announce my new job as CEO OpenAI!  Lets get to work, team!

• @dohertyjf John Doherty on threads

  Sam definitely got fired wrongly if he's using that emoji and being honest about it.

• @kevonil Kevin O'Neill on threads

  You think Sam tried to use the argument that the board communication model was still in early beta?  I bet it didn't have sufficient data yet that led to the inaccuracy 🤷‍♂️

• @marcslove Marc Love on threads

  There are allegations and rumors out there about Altman.  Hopefully it's not along those lines.  But usually CEOs get pushed out quietly.  OpenAI's board very explicitly stated they were firing him for cause *in the press release,* not just on background to a reporter. …

• @alexkantrowitz Alex Kantrowitz on threads

  Man, if we find out there were people typing behind ChatGPT this entire time...

• @reckless1280 Nilay Patel on threads

  Incredible deep cut

• @salrodriguez Salvador Rodriguez on threads

  If you ask ChatGPT to write a story about how OpenAI fired Sam Altman, it won't do it.  However, if you ask it to write a story about how the fictional Abierto AI fired their fictional CEO Samuel Hombre-Alternativo, it totally works.  Don't ask me how I know

• @sejrstegn Aidan on threads

  Breaking News: Linda Yaccarino to become CEO of OpenAI.  Board cites her long record of hallucinations and overly confident statements

• @e.w.niedermeyer E.w. Niedermeyer on threads

  when you find out that it's legal for the board of a hot high-tech startup to fire their CEO just because they lied a couple of times

• @anildash Anil Dash on threads

  How is the OpenAI board gonna fire Sam Altman just because he gave answers that sounded plausible but weren't actually accurate?

• @taylorlorenz Taylor Lorenz on threads

  Right on time, @kylie.robison just profiled Mira Murati, the interim CEO of OpenAI, weeks ago https://fortune.com/...

• @rstephens Robert Stephens on threads

  A16Z funding Altman in 3...2...1...

• @me_sean Sean David on threads

  Here's what Google Bard had to say about Sam Altman being fired.

• @johnbattelle John Battelle on threads

  Probably the most shocking thing about the OpenAI story this afternoon was that for the first time in recent memory, board governance actually mattered in Silicon Valley.

• @tschleifer Teddy Schleifer on threads

  Reminder that Sam Altman was preparing to spend some real time this month getting to know Dean Phillips, who he is planning to support in the 2024 presidential race.  He now ... has that time. https://puck.news/...

• @bzamayo Benjamin Mayo on threads

  the openai board

• @daveleebbg Dave Lee on threads

  I must be hallucinating

• @kevinroose Kevin Roose on threads

  Been a while since a story literally made me gasp but this did it! https://openai.com/...

• @katienotopoulos Katie Notopoulos on threads

  You guys heard about the CEO of the AI company getting fired?  Yeah, they found out he was using ChatGPT to write all his work for him

• @sama Sam Altman on x

  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. 🫡

• @sama Sam Altman on x

  if i start going off, the openai board should go after me for the full value of my shares

• @ericnewcomer Eric Newcomer on x

  I wrote in June 2021 how Sam Altman's departure from YC had been under explored [image]

• @openai @openai on x

  OpenAI announces leadership transition https://openai.com/...

• @sama Sam Altman on x

  i love you all. today was a weird experience in many ways. but one unexpected one is that it has been sorta like reading your own eulogy while you're still alive. the outpouring of love is awesome. one takeaway: go tell your friends how great you think they are.

• @karaswisher Kara Swisher on x

  Like everyone, I have no idea the reason the board had for firing @sama this way and so suddenly, but the he was not “candid” comment and the speed (he was very publicly repping the company yesterday) indicates it's more likely to be personal (you know what I mean) or $-related.

• @gdb Greg Brockman on x

  After learning today's news, this is the message I sent to the OpenAI team: [image]

• @ericschmidt Eric Schmidt on x

  Sam Altman is a hero of mine. He built a company from nothing to $90 Billion in value, and changed our collective world forever. I can't wait to see what he does next. I, and billions of people, will benefit from his future work- it's going to be simply incredible. Thank you...

• @chrisjbakke Chris Bakke on x

  2015 OpenAI leadership team: Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, Trevor Blackwell, Reid Hoffman, Jessica Livingston, Peter Thiel, Elon Musk 2023 OpenAI leadership team: a former program manager, a Chinese spy, a guy running around frantically unplugging servers, the CEO of a Christmas...

• @krishnanrohit Rohit on x

  Meanwhile, inside Sam's head [image]

• @loganbartlett Logan Bartlett on x

  Sam Altman can still be CEO if Mike Pence does the right thing

• @iamdcinvestor @iamdcinvestor on x

  typically when you fire someone in a very senior position, you say something vague about how they are moving on to new endeavors, etc. but to publicly say that the board lost confidence in him because he was “not consistently candid in communications” is wildly damning

• @suhail @suhail on x

  Brian probably *actually* knows what happened. And if he's going to bat, it's probably not a great reason.

• @shiringhaffary Shirin Ghaffary on x

  Just yesterday, I covered Sam Altman's remarks onstage at APEC where he was talking about building GPT-5 and the future of the company. Today, he's been fired by the board. Complete shocker. https://openai.com/...

• @cokedupoptions John W. Rich on x

  My unemployed nephew is looking for an internship in tech. He has dabbled in AI and startups. Young kid who's really eager to leave his mark. Any leads appreciated [image]

• @stshank Stephen Shankland on x

  OpenAI's board just fired Sam Altman. “He was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities. The board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI.” https://openai.com/... [image]

• @eladgil Elad Gil on x

  Good moment to remember to chose your board members carefully

• @var_epsilon @var_epsilon on x

  this is some pied piper shit fr

• @nikitabier Nikita Bier on x

  If Biden wasn't a million years old, he would issue an executive order to preserve the stability of America's most important technology asset—and reinstate OpenAI's management team, instead of having all of human progress hinged on 3 people who don't even have real jobs.

• @suhail @suhail on x

  Look, all I know is: the probability of success for most AI-first companies went up by 50%; anyone that knew sama understood his relentlessness i don't know what happened

• @blader Siqi Chen on x

  pretty wild that the first job openai took was sam's

• @ylecun Yann LeCun on x

  🫨🤔🤐 OpenAI's Board Pushes Out Sam Altman, Its High-Profile C.E.O. https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @geoffreywoo Geoffrey Woo on x

  @princeghosh97 ... I don't think @elonmusk retained any governance or shares in the resulting entity, and why would the Board listen to him given that @sama objectively launched the best consumer software product in history.

• @palmerluckey Palmer Luckey on x

  Board-run OpenAI is NGMI. “As he gazed at it suddenly Sam understood, almost with a shock, that this stronghold had been built not to keep enemies out of Mordor, but to keep them in.” https://www.theverge.com/...

• @munster_gene Gene Munster on x

  My immediate attention goes to the impact of $MSFT. The company's market cap has increased 52% since ChatGPT was released a year ago. The company has added $950B during this time.

• @iampaulgrewal @iampaulgrewal on x

  Somehow this will all be crypto's fault.

• @paulg Paul Graham on x

  When I talk to more established startups, one of the first things I want to know, after asking about the growth rate and whether they're profitable, is whether the founders still have board control. I'm more optimistic about the company when the answer is yes.

• @eghosao Eghosa Omoigui on x

  Buncha Black folks in tech I know probably waiting outside my door right now, stacking a bunch of “we toldja that dude been straight shady from jump and you didn't believe us.” https://openai.com/... This was unexpected. Truly a Friday night dump.

• @zsk Zoe Kleinman on x

  The OpenAI board says it has lost confidence in Sam Altman and that he wasn't being “candid in his communications” with them. Which roughly translated means there's something he wasn't being honest about. So.... what was it, and how did he get caught out?

• @muppettrading @muppettrading on x

  Good title, Jack. [image]

• @kantrowitz Alex Kantrowitz on x

  There are going to be books written about today

• @trungtphan Trung Phan on x

  The state of AI after the OpenAI shakeup [image]

• @ericnewcomer Eric Newcomer on x

  Reid Hoffman stepped off the OpenAI board in March

• @quinnypig Corey Quinn on x

  Oof. Sam Altman is out at OpenAI, and the language of the announcement blog post is just “knives out” level of hostility . This has the feel of the company desperately trying to get in front of something. Otherwise he'd be taking time to “refocus” or “spend time with family.”

• @dee_bosa Deirdre Bosa on x

  “Mr. 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. The board no longer has confidence in his ability...”

• @thestalwart Joe Weisenthal on x

  The machine has been unburdened of its creator. Anything can happen now.

• @palmerluckey Palmer Luckey on x

  “The majority of the board is independent, and the independent directors do not hold equity in OpenAI.” This is crazy. Imagine being fired from your own company by people who have ZERO skin in the game! https://openai.com/...

• @mattturck Matt Turck on x

  VCs: he must have done something terrible and also would he want to be a GP here

• @karaswisher Kara Swisher on x

  This by @ericschmidt is interesting and highly supportive: https://x.com/...

• @scobleizer Robert Scoble on x

  Google looks a lot stronger tonight than it did this morning.

• @zck Zak Kukoff on x

  It's so over

• @hardmaru @hardmaru on x

  Generative AI startups have become mainstream when their boardroom drama becomes national news.

• @saranormous @saranormous on x

  The work of @sama and the team @OpenAI have already changed the path of humanity. greatest startup story of the last decade

• @nikillinit Nikhil Krishnan on x

  yo how many Altmans are there, this is some pompliano shit

• @goodalexander Alex Good on x

  I've shorted Microsoft here you don't fire a celebrity CEO after a demo day into a low liquidity Thanksgiving week on a Friday afternoon if something truly bleak didn't occur stock has run 12% into this — and like I said. low liquidity week. not advice

• @___frye Frye on x

  sam altman-fired. is this anything

• @tunguz Bojan Tunguz on x

  Who did this? [image]

• @munster_gene Gene Munster on x

  Sam Altman out as OpenAI CEO. I'm shocked. He just hosted a great DevDay, everybody loved it. More importantly he has led the company to faster success than any other tech company. It doesn't feel that this decision is based on performance. There must be more to the story.

• @hsakatrades @hsakatrades on x

  Sams aren't having a good year

• @matthew_d_green Matthew Green on x

  HN is struggling harder than Bitcoin trying to process an NFT.

• @karaswisher Kara Swisher on x

  Last point: This is a fast developing story & MANY key people & partners (like MSFT) were caught unawares, so really have to see more transparency from the board about what it meant by not “candid,” a very loaded word and leaves too much to the imagination of the rumor mill.

• @garybasin Gary Basin on x

  When the lawyers tell you to do a Delaware c-corp and ignore any other clever ideas, now you know why

• @nikillinit Nikhil Krishnan on x

  we are literally watching a villain origin story unfolding

• @loganbartlett Logan Bartlett on x

  Sam Altman announced as new coach of Texas A&M

• @andercot Andrew Côté on x

  My Highest Likelihood Explanation on Altman's Departure: Erosion of senior leadership experience on the OpenAI Board of Directors created a situation where factionalism over the proposed use of a recent breakthrough led to a political takeover. Over the last few years, board... […

• @mezaoptimizer James Campbell on x

  They found his alt account It is so over

• @bchesky Brian Chesky on x

  I've spoken to Sam and Greg and they will have a statement shortly

• @fmanjoo Farhad Manjoo on x

  A terrible year to be a Sam in tech

• @blader Siqi Chen on x

  there are 6 seats on openai's board it takes 4 votes for majority sam and gdb obviously voted against that means ilya and adam both voted for damn [image]

• @reedalbergotti Reed Albergotti on x

  The Altman firing is a truly unique turning point in business history. We may have just witnessed a small group of tech founders essentially blow up a company, forgoing hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars because they are concerned about where the tech may lead.

• @esyudkowsky Eliezer Yudkowsky on x

  The level of corporate drama at OpenAI right now is something that I can only term... completely expected for a company whose corporate vision is ENDING THE WORLD. By 2026 this may just be a proverbial thing that people expect of AI companies. </wild-guessing>

• @eladgil Elad Gil on x

  Congrats to @sama & team for building @OpenAI to its current position The company has amazing momentum (ChatGPT), the best model so far (GPT-4) and broad industry defining impact

• @rishab_hegde Rishab Hegde on x

  Sama Being ousted from OpenAI by the guy who runs Quora and Joseph Gordon-Lewitt's wife was not on my 2023 bingo card

• @ashleevance Ashlee Vance on x

  Not gonna lie. I had Sam pegged to become CEO of Microsoft following their acquisition of OpenAI

• @anothercohen Alex Cohen on x

  Firing Sam Altman from OpenAI is going to go down as one of the dumbest, if not THE dumbest, decisions in the history of startups

• @car0linehaskins Caroline Haskins on x

  News: Sam Altman fired for hallucinating in his communications with the board

• @ericjackson Eric Jackson on x

  Vindication for Elon on this Sam thing

• @emostaque Emad on x

  Amidst all the drama, I'd like to make a note of support for friends @OpenAI This must be v unsettling but you're one of the most talent-dense groups out there building amazingness. It is stressful & uncertain, but it will calm & you'll get back to shipping awesome stuff 🙏

• @migueldeicaza Miguel de Icaza on x

  By corporate standards, that OpenAI blog post is pretty vicious.

• @tedchris Chris Anderson on x

  I'm stunned by this. OpenAI firing @sama feels like Apple firing Steve Jobs. Who has the real story? Please, we need to know!

• @adamscochran Adam Cochran on x

  @iamDCinvestor Yeah this is either: -Committed a past crime and lied about it not being real/issue when board asked, and now they have hard evidence. -Embezzlement (cash or IP) -Falsifying tech. (A la Theranos)

• @tobi Tobi Lutke on x

  Sam is a legend. Crazy turn of events. Sad to see him move on from OpenAI.

• @counternotions Kontra on x

  That's some loss function yield. https://openai.com/...

• @mikedemarais @mikedemarais on x

  lmao WLD (worldcoin) immediately dumps crypto so funny i love it [image]

• @zck Zak Kukoff on x

  Up: • group chat texts • alt foundation model co valuations • open source models Down: • founder confidence in boards • nonprofit -> profit conversions • regulatory capture by emerging leaders

• @jaltma Jack Altman on x

  More important than being one of the most brilliant and impactful people our industry has ever had Sam is one of the most generous and caring people I know. I've never met someone who has supported and lifted up more people around them than him. Couldn't be a prouder brother.

• @romeensheth Romeen Sheth on x

  A few takeaways from OpenAI governance cluster: 1. This may go down as one of the most value destructive moves a Board commits in history (market already values it at at least -$50B) 2. I cannot believe Microsoft had no Board Seat after a $10B investment. Nor did any major...

• @deepfates @deepfates on x

  They figured out that sama is Jimmy apples

• @woj_zaremba Wojciech Zaremba on x

  it's been sad for me to see @sama and @gdb go. I love and respect them much. Despite all of these the mission of the OpenAI is bigger than any of us and stays the same - build safe AGI to benefit humanity. ❤️

• @bchesky Brian Chesky on x

  Sam Altman is one of the best founders of his generation and has made an immense contribution to our industry

• @whengoodenough Jeanette on x

  Notice how they always bring women in to run a company when the 💩 hits the fan? You should try doing that from the beginning. Comment not directed at OpenAI situation. Women they are really good in crisis or they are scapegoat for when things go bad.

• @tszzl Roon on x

  sama is a hero, a modern day oppenheimer who quite literally changed the destiny of the world. on a personal level he is someone who is incredibly generous with his time and takes chances on young talent and genuinely likes people. sad day

• @scobleizer Robert Scoble on x

  Elon must be laughing his ass off.

• @mlevchin Max Levchin on x

  Thank you @sama. Your mark on this field and the world won't fade.

• @alexrkonrad Alex Konrad on x

  this also probably explains why Quora CEO Adam D'Angelo, an OpenAI board director, withdrew from @EricNewcomer's Cerebral Valley conference last minute a couple of days ago 👀

• @nickbilton Nick Bilton on x

  They need to create a Pulitzer category for headlines just for whoever wrote this. [image]

• @bentossell Ben Tossell on x

  “No upside in OpenAI” was right. damn

• @gergelyorosz Gergely Orosz on x

  It doesn't matter what the reasons for this firing were and hour correct this action will be in hindsight. The outcome is giving the competition a kind of opening the competition could have not dared ask for. Given how fast the AI space moves, they will aim to capitalise on it.

• @johncoogan John Coogan on x

  stop wildly speculating about the Sam Altman OpenAI situation the answer is simple and obvious time traveler. terminator situation. 100% confident about this. have it on good authority.

• @byrnehobart Byrne Hobart on x

  To put today's news in perspective, Sam Altman leaving OpenAI would be like Snoop quitting weed.

• @lachygroom Lachy Groom on x

  sam is the most supportive, generous, inspiring person i know. openai has forever changed the world, and i know whatever comes next will be even greater.

• @benparr Ben Parr on x

  I've seen a lot of guesses as to what happened with Sam Altman. Most of the guesses aren't catastrophic enough. Firing a super-visible CEO BEFORE the public markets closed means the announcement had to be rushed AND it's deeply serious.

• @autismcapital @autismcapital on x

  If your name is Sam don't ever interact with this account, like a post, retweet, so much as glance at the jigsaw piece or you will be cursed. Stay away.

• @gregisenberg Greg Isenberg on x

  Sam Altman just got fired as OpenAI's CEO. He skyrocketed its value from zero to $80B, and still, he's out. This is exactly why I steer clear of venture capital. One moment you're in, the next you're out. You work for the board of directors, not for yourself.

• @pitdesi Sheel Mohnot on x

  I can't figure out why some of these folks were on the board to begin with. Tasha's claim to fame seems to be her marriage to Joseph Gordon-Levitt; Helen Toner is a director of grants at Georgetown, where she graduated from in 2021 with a masters in security studies. [image]

• @danprimack Dan Primack on x

  AI really has grown up... it's now doing Friday afternoon news dumps. Sam Altman to leave OpenAI https://www.axios.com/...

• @warobusiness @warobusiness on x

  Gotta hand it to the zuck tho. The way he structured meta basically prevents him from being sam altmanned

• @rafat @rafat on x

  I hope someone called OpenAI PR to confirm, right? It isn't just a hacking incident?

• @ericnewcomer Eric Newcomer on x

  LOL RIP my openai draft bet in this draft. I mean hopefully they're still good but definitely worth a lot less with the drama right now. And makes getting folded into Microsoft much more likely

• @gergelyorosz Gergely Orosz on x

  It was unclear who could possibly stop OpenAI from winning the AI race. We now have the answer: OpenAI themselves. The most shocking CEO firing in a decade or two.

• @ericnewcomer Eric Newcomer on x

  “Mr. 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.”

• @garymarcus Gary Marcus on x

  Greg Brockman resigns too. Something smells bad. CEO fired, president resigns, same day. https://www.theinformation.com/ ...

• @localghost Aaron Ng on x

  Makes you wonder where the OpenAI board believes the charter has been violated. Firing the CEO of the fastest growing product of all time is the most unimaginable 180 from devday last week. [image]

• @charlesarthur Charles Arthur on x

  Altman's ousting gets weirder. They won't tell *anyone* why?? Not even staff? [image]

• @alifarhat79 @alifarhat79 on x

  I knew it [image]

• @ericnewcomer Eric Newcomer on x

  For the Sam running for president conspiracy theorists based on Google results, I think this is the answer

• @garymarcus Gary Marcus on x

  The fact that the governance of one of the most visible AI companies in the world can change literally overnight should be a reminder that we can't make our judgements about a company's trustworthiness based simply on a vibe about their CEO.

• @esyudkowsky Eliezer Yudkowsky on x

  ...and I stand immediately ready to double and triple down on that brighter assessment of OpenAI, if they show any further signs of hope. Some potential such signs include: - Changing their name away from OpenAI so they stop making closedness look bad. - Stop giving out...

• @convexdegen Sam Altman on x

  1) What

• @ashleevance Ashlee Vance on x

  This is like Apple firing Steve Jobs only they're doing it after the iPhone has become the best selling computer in history

• @ericnewcomer Eric Newcomer on x

  OpenAI board really needs to provide facts behind the allegation that Sam Altman was “not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities” or team ouster is going to lose public opinion pretty quickly

• @nope_its_lily Lily on x

  openai has the opportunity to do the funniest thing [image]

• @jacqmelinek Jacquelyn Melinek on x

  $WLD token falling after Sam Altman fired from OpenAI can always count on crypto to instantly trade on the news [image]

• @parkerconrad Parker Conrad on x

  When I was attacked relentlessly post-Zenefits, @sama went to my prev investors and put himself on the line to stop it. I didn't know he was doing it until after it happened. There are so many stories of him swooping in to help others - hope he gets tons of support.

• @e0m Evan Morikawa on x

  For those wondering what'll happen next, the answer is we'll keep shipping. @sama & @gdb weren't micro-managers. The ✨ comes from the many geniuses here in research product eng & design. There's clear internal uniformity among these leaders that we're here for the bigger mission

• @andrewyng Andrew Ng on x

  Sending love to everyone at OpenAI. Whatever happens next, many of us are wishing the best for all of you and for the amazing company you've built. ❤️

• @alexrkonrad Alex Konrad on x

  Wow. Sam Altman has been removed from OpenAI by its board of directors, Mira Murati is now interim CEO. Just yesterday, he was speaking with world leaders at APEC about the future of the AI industry. Seismic move. https://openai.com/...

• r/technews r on reddit

  WTF is going on at OpenAI?  We have theories

• r/anime_titties r on reddit

  AI boss Sam Altman ousted after board loses confidence

• r/artificial r on reddit

  Sam Altman fired as CEO of OpenAI

• r/wallstreetbets r on reddit

  Sam Altman Fired From OpenAI, $MSFT Drops

• r/technology r on reddit

  Sam Altman fired as CEO of OpenAI

• r/CryptoCurrency r on reddit

  OpenAI Ousts Sam Altman From CEO and Board Roles; Worldcoin Drops 12%

• r/bing r on reddit

  OpenAI fires co-founder and CEO Sam Altman for lying to company board

• r/wallstreetbets r on reddit

  OpenAI fires co-founder and CEO Sam Altman for lying to company board

• r/TrueAnon r on reddit

  What did Sam Altman do to get suddenly fired from OpenAI?  👁️

• r/ChatGPT r on reddit

  Sam Altman is leaving OpenAI

• r/sanfrancisco r on reddit

  OpenAI fires co-founder and CEO Sam Altman for lying to company board

• r/LocalLLaMA r on reddit

  Sam Altman out as CEO of OpenAI.  Mira Murati is the new CEO.

• r/singularity r on reddit

  Sam Altman Fired From OpenAI

• r/slatestarcodex r on reddit

  Predictions for Sam Altman's firing impact on safety?

• r/OpenAI r on reddit

  OpenAI announces leadership transition, Altman out

• @parkert Parker Thompson on threads

  OpenAI didn't seem like it was a ZIRP, but like with FTX, investors weren't looking hard enough at corporate structures when everything was easy & it turns out boards matter.

• @esthercrawford Esther Crawford on threads

  All of tech to the OpenAI board rn

• @8teapi @8teapi on x

  What happened at OpenAI? > Nov 2 -> Sam was in the room, when the team demonstrated the next big improvement. 3 times before in OpenAIs history, most recently with GPT-4, they'd pushed back the veil of ignorance and pushed forward the frontier of discovery. As he watched the...

• @anothercohen Alex Cohen on x

  Sam was ambushed and they tried to guilt Greg into sticking around. Insanity at OpenAI today

• @chriszeoli Chris Zeoli on x

  So let me get this straight... A group of nobodies with zero financial incentive to the companies ousted the founders with no heads up or prior discussion?

• @autismcapital @autismcapital on x

  Based on Greg Brockman's statement it looks like both him and Sam Altman were blindsided and Ilya Sutskever had been working with the board prior to this to plan a coup. Mira Murati, the current interim CEO and former CTO, knew a day before. Very Game of Thrones 🐍

• @scottnover Scott Nover on x

  Microsoft invested $10 billion in OpenAI and even they refuse to use Teams.

• @shanselman Scott Hanselman on x

  Google Meet?!

• @garymarcus Gary Marcus on x

  Things I think I understand 👉 Looks like there was a coup per @karaswisher Things I don't think I understand 👉 What led the board to say Altman “wasn't consistently candid in his communications”? 👉 Why did they move so swiftly, apparently without consulting Microsoft? 👉 Why...

• @karaswisher Kara Swisher on x

  Well, if you are talking about the Silicon Valley I know, technically not true.

• @ctjlewis Lewis on x

  Ilya? it was you? [image]

• @nearcyan Near on x

  imagine joining a google meet call and it's the entire board of directors minus your single best ally

• @blader Siqi Chen on x

  in retrospect this was one helluva subtweet [image]

• @benparr Ben Parr on x

  The fact the board expected Greg to stay after a coup like this shows how little thought they had into the consequences of their decision.

• @balajis Balaji on x

  First: Sam, Greg, and the team made historical contributions with ChatGPT. No one can take that away from them. Second: if AI doomers doomed OpenAI, that'll doom doomerism. Third: if the board can do this to Sam, they can do it to any OpenAI customer. Need to decentralize AI.

• @pitdesi Sheel Mohnot on x

  Ilya & the board destroyed an insane amount of value in a very short amount of time Absolutely wild

• @minimaxir Max Woolf on x

  It appears the reporting was accurate: Ilya staged a coup. Notably, Sam/Greg do not guess or insinuate *why* he did a coup.

• @zebulgar Delian on x

  these ai safety decels are just the epitome of the intellectual delusions of the hyper-leftist woke welfare state these people do not realize that prosperity and progress only happen when brilliant people like @sama decide to change the world ilya should be ashamed of himself

• @0interestrates Rahul on x

  stories of gdb's superhuman abilities from people who worked with him are wild. like when gpt4 first finished training it didn't actually work very well and the whole team thought it's over, scaling is dead...until greg went into a cave for weeks and somehow magically made it wor…

• @saranormous @saranormous on x

  They're going to be better than fine

• @saranormous @saranormous on x

  Chinese state must be amused

• @tobi Tobi Lutke on x

  Two of the best founders of this generation. Dispatched like this: https://x.com/... We need to take nonsense like doomerism more seriously if it can destroy one of the most important companies in the world just like that.

• @e0m Evan Morikawa on x

  The past 3 years with @sama & @gdb taught me, and everyone around me, how to think big and get stuff done. I'm really going to miss them. It's because of that legacy engrained in the culture and the team they helped build that I'm still super bullish on OpenAI.

• @balajis Balaji on x

  Insane!! Fanatical AI doomers just decapitated OpenAI. And caused $50B damage to Microsoft. Of course, Greg and Sam will land on their feet. But the lesson for all AI startups is: remove doomers before they doom you. The only path forward is acceleration + decentralization.

• @karaswisher Kara Swisher on x

  And here we are with the clap back from @sama and @gdb

• @nivi @nivi on x

  This is not how you conduct board matters. It's not a TV show. The remaining board is clearly incompetent on this basis alone. Bunch of children.

• @dseetharaman Deepa Seetharaman on x

  And just to make it a little more crazy, @ilyasut was the officiant at @gdb's wedding, which took place at the office in front of the OpenAI logo, per this great @_KarenHao piece from early 2020. https://www.technologyreview.com/ ... [image]

• r/programiranje r on reddit

  Sta su ovo zakomplikovali?

• r/OpenAI r on reddit

  Greg Brockman - Sam and I are shocked and saddened by what the board did today.

• @hellokillian Killian on x

  more senior departures from openai tonight: - GPT-4 lead / director of research, jakub pachocki (@merettm) - head of AI risk, aleksander madry (@aleks_madry) - open-source baselines researcher, szymon sidor (@sidorszymon) - sam altman, greg brockman this is just day 1 [image]

• @triplebankshot @triplebankshot on x

  More resignations at OpenAI include the Director of Research and gpt-4 lead @merettm, Head of Preparedness @aleks_madry, and veteran researcher @sidorszymon Reported by The Information: https://www.theinformation.com/ ...

• @jon_victor_ Jon Victor on x

  New: Three senior researchers - Jakub Pachocki, Szymon Sidor and Aleksander Madry - have resigned from OpenAI following Sam Altman's ouster https://www.theinformation.com/ ...

• @zachtratar Zach Tratar on x

  So, uh, one of the researchers who just resigned in solidarity with Sam/Greg was a relatively new “Head of Preparedness” (AI safety). If this was purely about safety, why would a person leading part of it leave? Doesn't add up. [image]

• r/OpenAI r on reddit

  Three Senior OpenAI Researchers Resign as Crisis Deepens

• @joannastern Joanna Stern on threads

  Just four weeks ago... Altman: I'm going to make Mira do all of these now.  Yep.

• @tomwarrenuk Tom Warren on threads

  Microsoft reacts to OpenAI firing Sam Altman.  “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.” https://www.theverge.com/...

• @esyudkowsky Eliezer Yudkowsky on x

  Mira Murati reached out to me in 2022 for a one-hour zoom call. Sam Altman never essayed any such contact. Also, I don't think Murati has made any jokes about how funny it would be if the world ended. I'm tentatively 8.5% more cheerful about OpenAI going forward.

• @provisionalidea James Rosen-Birch on x

  OpenAI news is striking. Sama removed as CEO. Brockman and Altman removed from the board. This is either about a deal or partnership that put the company in peril and was not disclosed to the board, or serious financial mismanagement. Ilya and Mira unaffected: not product.

• @neilturkewitz Neil Turkewitz on x

  @sharongoldman ... I hope that Mira will adopt a different approach to the use of creative materials to train AI, and will reject nonconsensual use. Ethical AI cannot arise from unethical harvesting of data. That's a dead end—for society as a whole. @GaryMarcus

• @wbhub Will Hubbard on x

  So Greg Brockman leads the board in firing Sam Altman, then steps down as chairman? Something big doesn't add up. [image]

• @tomwarren Tom Warren on x

  Microsoft reacts to OpenAI firing Sam Altman. “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.” https://www.theverge.com/...

• @nazneenrajani Nazneen Rajani on x

  I have had the honor to work with @miramurati every week as part of our work on the UN's AI Advisory. I have no doubt she will be able to lead the most powerful AI startup through this turbulence 💪🏽

• @munster_gene Gene Munster on x

  CTO Mira Murati will be taking over as interim CEO. I met her back at her previous company, Leap Motion. She's a rockstar and my guess is will land as the permanent CEO.

• @zachtratar Zach Tratar on x

  The buried lede is that Brockman also stepped down as President of OpenAI. Something very big happened.

• @devahaz Deva Hazarika on x

  Mira Murati career trajectory from 2012 mechanical engineering college graduate to 2023 OpenAI CEO is wild

• @thezvi Zvi Mowshowitz on x

  From Mira's time interview: Q: What's the key ethical or philosophical question that we still need to figure out? A: [AI] can be misused, or it can be used by bad actors. So, then there are questions about how you govern the use of this technology globally. How do you govern the.…

• @kateclarktweets Kate Clark on x

  OpenAI interim CEO Mira Murati & her team will address employees in an all-hands shortly. Meanwhile, Altman said in a tweet that he “will have more to say about what's next later.” https://www.theinformation.com/ ...

• @kyliebytes Kylie Robison on x

  well, my first fortune cover story now has ... a lot more lore! “Mira Murati, the young CTO of OpenAI, is building ChatGPT and shaping your future” https://fortune.com/...

• r/programare r on reddit

  Sam Altman dat afara de la OpenAI

• r/JoeRogan r on reddit

  Sam Altman fired as CEO of OpenAI

• r/Futurology r on reddit

  Sam Altman fired as CEO of Open AI

• r/aiwars r on reddit

  Sam Altman fired as CEO of OpenAI

• r/neoliberal r on reddit

  Sam Altman fired as CEO of OpenAI

• r/microsoft r on reddit

  Sam Altman fired as CEO of OpenAI

• r/OpenAI r on reddit

  Sam Altman fired as CEO of OpenAI

• r/bayarea r on reddit

  Sam Altman fired as CEO of OpenAI

• r/Fauxmoi r on reddit

  Sam Altman Fired As CEO Of Open AI

• r/agi r on reddit

  Sam Altman fired as CEO of OpenAI

• r/TheAllinPodcasts r on reddit

  This better be topic #1 for next week

• @crumbler Casey Newton on threads

  he said “based on,” not “learning.”  But something definitely happened between him (apparently) agreeing to step down from board and deciding to quit and i would simply love to know what it was

• @crumbler Casey Newton on threads

  Wow: Greg Brockman, who stepped down from OpenAI's board earlier today, announced that he's quitting too.  Sounds like it was in solidarity with Sam https://twitter.com/...

• @karaswisher Kara Swisher on x

  Or a very basic disagreement about the profit direction of the company under Altman and the speed of development, which could be seen as too risky, that a nonprofit entity dedicated to more safety and caution, might not vibe with.

• @_ali_taylor Ali on x

  greg has full knowledge of whatever information the board has that led to sam's removal. this makes me think the evidence isn't as damning against sam as the board statement implies, given greg's statement and decision to quit here still publicly link his reputation with sam's

• @mckaywrigley Mckay Wrigley on x

  This also concerns me greatly. I don't know what this means in terms of structural changes, but GDB is a legend. Losing Sam and bumping Greg Brockman down (I think?) kills my belief in OpenAI. Anxious for details. [image]

• @jhong James Hong on x

  What does this tell us? That whatever @sama did, at least one insider stands by him. Which probably means it is a lot less likely he did anything unethical, and it's probably more a disagreement with the board. My guess is about positioning wrt safety / regulation issues.

• @alexeheath Alex Heath on x

  Sounds like things went very wrong https://twitter.com/...

• @bdsams Brad Sams on x

  Something big is brewing

• @alfred_lin Alfred Lin on x

  Your contributions at @OpenAI forever changed the way we work and live. They are truly legendary for humanity. Look forward to the next world-changing companies that @sama and @gdb build.

• @functi0nzer0 Laurence on x

  Quitting as president of a company as massive as OpenAI with a lower-case only email is so insanely based I can hardly believe it's real

• @alexkolicich Alex Kolicich on x

  Greg is one of the greatest technologists of our time. This is a monumental loss to the company, which was perfectly positioned to capitalize on the defining tech of our generation It suggests there probably isn't a huge *for cause* scandal Greatest own-goal in startup history?

• @justindross JD Ross on x

  I couldn't be less excited about OpenAI as I am right now. I hope Greg and Sam just compete and win.

• @autismcapital @autismcapital on x

  Prediction: Sam Altman & Greg Brockman spin off their own new AI company. Ilya Sutskever stays working for OpenAI as it becomes subsumed into Microsoft and gets cringe and “bing-ified”, eventually he gets fed up of trying to fight against Microsoft big company culture, then...

• @mattkrisiloff Matt Krisiloff on x

  I always tell people Sam and Greg were the two people in my career I learned the most from. They are incredible operators, and I can't imagine OpenAI will be nearly as effective without them. I don't know what actually happened, but this all feels very unfair.

• @seconds_0 @seconds_0 on x

  My theory that Brockman was ousted from the board to get a quorum to fire Sam is now almost certainly true. The revelation of the real reason is going to be absolutely fucking stupid. Its going to be so stupid its unfathomable for anyone with a brain.

• @minimaxir Max Woolf on x

  There's no job quitting note like an all lower-case job quitting note.

• @jamesrbuk James Ball on x

  Something very, *very* strange has happened today at the leading AI company. It seems to have blindsided the fired CEO, the co-founder, and the main investor (Microsoft). And no-one involved seems to have tried to set out a narrative for it.

• @yacinemtb Kache on x

  sir, a second tech executive has left OpenAI [image]

• @vriparbelli Victor Riparbelli on x

  The OpenAI board has 3 independents + Greg Brockman, Ilya Sutskever and Sam Altman. So presumably either Ilya or Greg must have voted against Sam. This isn't VCs seizing control. Wild.

• @emostaque Emad on x

  Greg should call his new thing BasedAI 🫡

• @bryancsk Bryan on x

  Quitting in lowercase is amazing [image]

• @btibor91 Tibor Blaho on x

  Greg did not really agree with this decision, did he? “As a part of this transition, Greg Brockman will be stepping down as chairman of the board and will remain in his role at the company, reporting to the CEO.”

• @alexius_sc2 @alexius_sc2 on x

  @AviSchiffmann you cant make a samlette without breaking some greggs

• @danprimack Dan Primack on x

  After “learning” today's news? He was chairman of the board? Wasn't he in the room?

• @silvermanjacob Jacob Silverman on x

  Cofounder and president of OpenAI quits. Something going on here

• @iancoldwater Ian Coldwater on x

  damn, OpenAI really did take everybody's jobs

• @levie Aaron Levie on x

  This is not your standard startup leadership shakeup. 10,000's of startups are building on OpenAI, and have assumed a certain degree of technical velocity and commercial stability. This instantly changes the structure of the industry.

• @autismcapital @autismcapital on x

  Would you invest in this company? [image]

• @sevensaints__ Ben Etherington on x

  Everybody talking about Sam altman... but Greg Brockman has stepped down as chairman too, what the fuck is going on and why is ilya sutskever the only one standing ...👀🤷‍♂️

• @alexrkonrad Alex Konrad on x

  Wow. Greg Brockman, OpenAI cofounder and until today its board chairman, just announced he's quit. Board had said he would continue as president. https://x.com/...

• @suhail @suhail on x

  The board at OpenAI is 100% going to lose their reputation after this. There's no coming back.

• @levie Aaron Levie on x

  Nearly impossible to picture OpenAI without Sam and Greg. They made AI finally go mainstream after years of it never happening. Can't imagine what happens next 🤯.

• @karaswisher Kara Swisher on x

  New development. This is the president and co-founder of @OpenAI. This is beginning to feel to me like some conflict of interest business issue.

• @garymarcus Gary Marcus on x

  Theories coming in fast and furious. The biggest hint IMHO is that @gdb is simultaneously being pushed out of the Chairman role. Not sure yet what it all means.

• @avischiffmann Avi on x

  everyone's talking about Sam but what did Greg do? [image]

• @bchesky Brian Chesky on x

  Sam Altman and Greg Brockman have my full support. I'm saddened by what's transpired. They, and the rest of the OpenAI team, deserve better

• r/ChatGPTPro r on reddit

  “After learning today's news” Greg Brockman, President and Co-Founder of OpenAI, quits.

• r/technology r on reddit

  OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman is leaving, too

• r/OpenAI r on reddit

  Greg Brockman: “Based on today's news, I quit.”

• @aaronpholmes Aaron Holmes on x

  NEW: In an all-hands just now, OpenAI's interim CEO assured staff its relationship w/ MSFT is stable. Meanwhile, MSFT leaders were blindsided by Sam Altman's ouster today. He met with MSFT as recently as yesterday. https://www.theinformation.com/ ...

• @danprimack Dan Primack on x

  Ok. But what else could Mira or Microsoft say at this moment without setting off a panic for both orgs and their customers? What happens on week 2 is much bigger than on day 1.

• @thecaptain_nemo Nemo on x

  somehow i totally missed this openAI recently updated their “company structure” page to include a note saying the Microsoft deal only applies to pre-AGI tech, and the board determines when they've reached AGI [image]

• @buccocapital BuccoCapital Guy on x

  The lesson of 2023 is that you need a Board of cold-blooded killers Capitalists who will spill the guts of your enemies You can't give your money to people with a fake moral compass based on made up philosophies

• @adcock_brett Brett Adcock on x

  Today is bringing to light a massive corp issue: Independent Board Members They have NO equity. And they are TERRIFIED of risk. Public companies need a majority of indep directors - it's a disaster. They will kill you. Avoid them at all costs. Get control of your board.

• @danprimack Dan Primack on x

  No amount of AI will automate away corporate dysfunction.

• @mezaoptimizer James Campbell on x

  The OpenAI board consists of Ilya, Tasha McAuley, Helen Toner and Adam D'Angelo. Of these, Helen and Adam are long-time proponents of AI safety and Ilya leads the super-alignment effort. Could it be that Altman tried to conceal information about the societal risk he was willing..…

• @0xfoobar @0xfoobar on x

  hard to believe that a random georgetown civics grad barely capable of passing algebra was placed in a position of power sufficient to destroy $50B of value, but here we are. hopefully this puts an end to the insane cultlike behavior trying to crush innovation around the world

• @austen @austen on x

  Who is on your board of directors doesn't really matter until all of the sudden it really, really, really matters

• @grahamstarr Graham Starr on x

  Big question: How did OpenAI set up a board with this much power and no visibility or vote for key investors? Microsoft, which has invested more than $10bn, also caught off guard by a ***CEO firing***

• @teddyschleifer Teddy Schleifer on x

  Do people have opinions about effective altruism?

• @devahaz Deva Hazarika on x

  Everyone in tech Googling Helen Toner and Tasha McCauley

• @lmatsakis Louise Matsakis on x

  The board has fired Sam Altman. It's a really interesting group of people who made this decision: OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, Tasha McCauley, Quora CEO Adam D'Angelo, and Helen Toner from CSET. https://www.semafor.com/...

• @xuanalogue Xuan on x

  my headcanon is that joseph gordon-levitt's wife (tasha mccauley) did this

• @nbashaw Nathan Baschez on x

  Why is no one talking about what a massive conflict of interest there is between Adam D'Angelo and OpenAI? Poe is literally a direct ChatGPT competitor

• @pitdesi Sheel Mohnot on x

  I would have thought that Theranos and FTX would have been a return to investor governance (neither had investors on their board) but now we have a governance debacle of a whole different type... Hope it leads to some positive changes.

• @teddyschleifer Teddy Schleifer on x

  Woah, Sam Bankman-Fried believed in this?! Woah, so did the people who apparently got rid of Sam Altman?! Omg how am I just hearing about this?!

• @pitdesi Sheel Mohnot on x

  I can't figure out why some of these folks were on the board to begin with. Tasha's claim to fame seems to be her marriage to Joseph Gordon-Levitt; Helen Toner is a director of grants at Georgetown, where she graduated from in 2021 with a masters in security studies. [image]

• @zebulgar Delian on x

  Adam D'Angelo really made himself a pariah in Silicon Valley with a single move...

• @adcock_brett Brett Adcock on x

  Went through this first-hand building my public board. Independent directors are not aligned to long term success. They are only interested in protecting their personal brands as they have no equity interests. They are petrified to push hard.

• @lessin @lessin on x

  One lesson from the spectacular fall of two Sams: If the ownership structure of your organization requires a complicated flow chart to understand... you are probably gonna have a bad time.

• @buccocapital BuccoCapital Guy on x

  Another lesson of 2023 is that nothing good comes from weird governance models like you should just be running and investing in normal businesses and aberrational corporate governance structures are toxic assets with capped upside and infinite downside (zero)

• @sergeykarayev Sergey Karayev on x

  Okay so OpenAI board is · Ilya, got it, makes sense · Helen Toner, DC policy person, fine · Adam D'Angelo, CEO of Quora, okay I guess but why though? · Tasha McCauley, “tech entrepreneur” and funny enough also wife of Joseph Gordon-Levitt, how did this board come together?

• @tomgara Tom Gara on x

  The weird & ambiguously explained flip from non-profit to $100 billion company always seemed like the Chekhov's gun in the OpenAI story, so a bizarre governance drama seems like the fitting turn for the third act