After OpenAI CEO Ultraman was dismissed, President Greg has also resigned How to view these changes? What impact will they have on the company?

OpenAI Misalignment of Internal Values, Sam Altman and Greg Brockman Resign.

Further updates at:

Unfortunately, OpenAI’s internal values did not align before AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) aligned with human values.

Another answer didn’t speculate much:

First, let’s provide some context with Sam’s statement:

Greg Brockman’s recent statement:

A tweet by Alex Cohen (OpenAI’s product leader):

(If even Sam is saying wtf… it seems like he probably didn’t know about this change in advance)

This picture depicts a person giving a speech against the backdrop of a display screen showing a chart labeled “Hypothetical Illustration of EBITDA.” The chart displays an upward arrow labeled “Turnaround,” implying an improvement in economic or business conditions. EBITDA is a financial indicator that represents a company’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. It is commonly used to assess a company’s operational performance and profitability. The person in the picture appears to be giving a business or finance-related presentation. ——By GPT-4v

Meanwhile, just a few hours ago, Greg Brockman was promoting ChatGPT:

Here is his response:

Hello everyone, I am proud of the achievements we have made together since starting this journey eight years ago in my apartment. We have experienced both challenges and great moments together, and despite various reasons that could have prevented our success, we have accomplished a lot. However, according to today’s news, I have resigned. I sincerely wish everyone the best. I continue to believe in the mission of creating safe and beneficial Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) for all of humanity.

Note the tone here, based on today’s news, i quit. Well, how should I put it, the emotions are complex.

And there is also a small detail: his entire letter is written in lowercase! It is worth noting that his normal usage is not all lowercase, whereas all lowercase is Sam Altman’s signature style. As for gdb, it is unnecessary to say who he supports more.

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There have been different opinions on who the “key figure” of OpenAI is, and indeed, some people dislike Sam’s showmanship in the spotlight, while others are more supportive of the geek/nerd-like Ilya Sutskever.

But creating fans within the tech industry is meaningless. Within the company, it should be said that everyone has their own roles and ideas.

Time 100’s report[1] states:

Greg Brockman, co-founder and president of OpenAI, works 60 to 100 hours per week, with approximately 80% of that time spent coding. Former colleagues describe him as the hardest-working person at OpenAI. Brockman meets the criteria of a “10x engineer,” a Silicon Valley term used to describe someone who can do the work of ten ordinary programmers. He is a scientific prodigy who gained admission to Harvard University and later transferred to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before dropping out to join the fintech startup Stripe. He served as the company’s Chief Technology Officer for five years before leaving and co-founding OpenAI in 2015.

I believe this report, because if you follow Brockman’s Twitter, you will find that his daily routine revolves around coding and debugging:

Brockman was the first to submit code to the OpenAI API code repository.

In 2023, he also did not shy away from coding.

2016 was the year he made the most contributions.

Such individuals are more inclined towards technical leadership. I have reason to believe that some within OpenAI who prefer marketing products would be supporters of Sam Altman, while there would also be programmers who support Brockman. However, now both of them have left OpenAI.

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As for the impact on the company, in the short term, there may be more people resigning, in the medium term, there may be other secondary impacts, and in the long term, it is unknown.

Here are some unverified rumors:

That’s it.

Internal Disagreements within OpenAI’s Board of Directors

Here is an update on the latest response from Greg Brockman, the former chairman of the OpenAI board:

According to Greg’s response, both Sam and himself were notified that they were being removed without their prior knowledge. This means that when the board was making decisions and having discussions, these two individuals were already excluded. It is important to note that Greg is the chairman of the board.

Prior to this, the OpenAI board consisted of six members: Greg Brockman (former chairman and president, who announced his resignation from all positions after being removed), Sam Altman (CEO, a key figure in this incident who was dismissed), Ilya Sutskever (chief scientist), Adam D’Angelo (independent director and CEO of Quora), Tasha McCauley (technopreneur), and Helen Toner (Georgetown Center for Security and Emerging Technology).

Currently, there are only four members left on the board. Among these four, only Ilya Sutskever is directly involved with the daily management of OpenAI, while the other three are independent directors.

Combined with Greg’s response, it seems as if Ilya Sutskever, along with the other three directors, removed Greg and Sam from the core team of OpenAI and took control, resulting in a dramatic power struggle.

The situation is becoming increasingly dramatic.

Sam Altman and Ilya Sutskever

—Original Answer—

It’s hard to believe that on an ordinary morning, we received the biggest news in AI and even the entire tech industry this year.

The OpenAI board has removed Sam Altman from his CEO position—note that he was removed, not resigned or simply rotated.

According to the official statement, the wording is quite direct: “inconsistent communication with the board.”

As for the reasons behind this decision, there are several speculations:

1. One theory is that it is related to Microsoft’s recent disabling of ChatGPT. It is suspected that the underlying reason might be Sam Altman’s disagreement with Microsoft, their largest funder. (Microsoft has invested $13 billion in OpenAI and owns 49% of the shares.)

2. Another theory is that it is related to Sam Altman’s proposed strategies for the company’s future, such as the recent proposal for a GPTs store where creators can share profits.

3. There is also a more far-fetched claim that it is related to his sister Annie Altman exposing his sexual misconduct.

These speculations are all rumors, and we may have to wait a while longer for more reliable information. (Perhaps we will never know the true reasons behind the scenes.)

This is definitely not a simple dismissal, and it seems that there are significant disagreements within the board regarding this matter.

As mentioned in the title, Greg Brockman, the chairman of the OpenAI board, also announced his resignation shortly after the news broke.

It appears that he does not agree with the dismissal of Sam Altman, whether due to guilt or disagreement with the board.

According to the previous statement on the official website, Greg Brockman resigned from the position of board chairman but remained as president, reporting to the CEO.

The original OpenAI board consisted of six members, and the official website has not updated the board information yet.

The six members were:

• Greg Brockman (chairman and president)
• Ilya Sutskever (chief scientist)
• Sam Altman (CEO, dismissed)
• Adam D’Angelo (independent director, Quora CEO)
• Tasha McCauley (technopreneur)
• Helen Toner (Georgetown Center for Security and Emerging Technology)

After Sam Altman’s dismissal, the company announced that the current CTO, Mira Murati, would serve as interim CEO. The attached image shows Mira Murati with Altman, Greg Brockman, and Ilya Sutskever.

Personally, I believe that the impact of this incident on OpenAI’s future will mainly be reflected in the company’s operations and development at the corporate level, rather than significant changes in products and technology. Sam Altman does not come from a technical background, so his influence on the company’s technical direction is limited. The chief scientist of OpenAI is Ilya Sutskever.

Considering this dismissal, along with Greg Brockman’s voluntary resignation, I don’t think it was due to the reason that many people speculated, which was Sam Altman’s sister exposing his sexual misconduct. The primary reason is likely the board’s dissatisfaction with some of Sam Altman’s strategies and actions.

One widely circulated rumor is that “he made unilateral business decisions for the sake of profit.”

As an additional piece of information, OpenAI is currently in negotiations to complete a new round of financing that will increase the company’s valuation to over $80 billion, nearly triple the valuation from less than a year ago.

Important Turning Point in OpenAI Leadership Change

The recent leadership changes at OpenAI have certainly attracted attention. The dismissal of Sam Altman, as the helm of the company, is bound to cause ripples both inside and outside the company. The board mentioned communication issues with Altman, and such a decision is not made lightly in any company. Imagine how sudden this news must have been for the company’s employees - just a week ago, they were attending a developer conference hosted by Altman, and then suddenly they hear that he has been dismissed.

The role adjustment of Greg Brockman is also worth noting. He is no longer the chairman of the board, but he continues to stay with the company as president, indicating his continued commitment and influence on the future of OpenAI. Mira Murati takes over as CEO, bringing with her a strong technical background and a deep understanding of the company, which may bring new perspectives and innovation to OpenAI.

In the midst of such changes, OpenAI’s core mission and vision still appear to be firm. The board and the new leadership remain steadfast in their commitment to advancing artificial intelligence technology, particularly Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), and ensuring its benefits for all of humanity. These changes may bring about new strategic adjustments, perhaps in the company’s governance structure and operational methods, but the fundamental direction and goals of OpenAI seem unchanged.

Overall, these leadership changes may represent a significant turning point in OpenAI’s development path, signaling new strategies and innovations, while also reflecting a thoughtful adjustment to the company’s future direction.

Reason for Sam’s departure: Lack of candid communication with the board, violation of regulations, and business decisions contradicting the mission. The impact of leaving OpenAI may not necessarily be negative.

Thank you for inviting me. The highly praised content is too long, so I’ll briefly explain:

Some people jokingly say that large models will cause unemployment,

You still don’t believe it…

Unexpectedly, even before GPT-5 was released, the first casualty of OpenAI was Sam Altman…

In my opinion, the reason for Sam’s departure is that OpenAI later released GPT-5, and humans eventually lost control of AI. With no solution in sight, someone traveled back in time, organized this meeting, fired Sam, and hindered the development of the GPT-5 version, buying valuable time for humanity to fight back. End of text, hahaha.

Just kidding, let’s continue.

Now let’s focus on the reasons:

Actually, Sam Altman didn’t leave voluntarily, but was fired after a review by the board…

This cannot help but remind us that Sam Altman is a template for Steve Jobs from talent shows.

I. How the board operates:

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 to continue leading OpenAI.

Mr. Altman’s departure was decided after a thorough review process by the board. The board 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 to continue leading OpenAI.

Lack of candid communication with the board indicates possible violations. This actually aligns with Altman’s consistent style, as he had done similar things during his time at YC. He is indeed a talented individual.

Of course, another point is that he made unilateral decisions regarding the GPT store and profit sharing for the sake of profit, which contradicted OpenAI’s mission. This crossed a boundary, and therefore, the board made the difficult decision to remove him from his CEO position.

II. Influence:

We can compare Sam leaving OpenAI to Jobs leaving Apple to illustrate the impact of leadership changes on a company’s development. After Jobs left Apple, despite concerns that it would have a negative impact on the company, Apple maintained its original innovation and success.

This actually indicates that a company’s success does not solely depend on one leader, but rather a strong team, company culture, and internal processes are equally crucial for driving the company’s continued growth.

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In conclusion, let’s see how GPT answers this question:

Suddenly Changing Plans

Well, we haven’t even been on the road for a day and suddenly they say they want to go back. This is frustrating.

Long-term Collaboration between Microsoft and OpenAI

In 2019, OpenAI removed its non-profit status and transformed from a non-profit organization into a “limited-profit” company (OpenAI LP). It also proposed a distribution model with a “profit cap”: OpenAI investors can earn up to 100 times their original investment, and any amount exceeding this limit will be used for non-profit work.

It was in this year that OpenAI established a partnership with Microsoft, with Microsoft investing $1 billion in OpenAI.

Also in this year, OpenAI launched GPT-2.

Investors seek returns, and I believe Microsoft is no exception.

Today, at around 7 o’clock, Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella posted a message on Twitter, indicating that “we have signed a long-term agreement with OpenAI.”

This timing inevitably leads people to speculate.

During early meetings, Altman told Nadella that they needed amazing computing power to support their AI models on a large scale.

Later, Nadella told Scott Guthrie, the head of Azure, that Microsoft needed to build an artificial intelligence supercomputing cluster in Azure data centers.

Microsoft built a supercomputer using tens of thousands of NVIDIA A100 chips.

This collaboration tilted Microsoft’s computing resources towards OpenAI.

In order to meet OpenAI’s training needs, Microsoft had to upgrade its Azure data centers.

As Eric Boyd, Vice President of Microsoft AI Research, said, meeting the training and running requirements for OpenAI’s LLM has driven innovation and benefited all Azure customers. In the future, training and running large-scale AI models on Azure will be easier.

This is Microsoft’s advantage and ambition: to be the number one infrastructure service provider in the AI era.

However, it is widely known that GPTs, led by Altman, have a dominating presence. He wants to be the top player in the AI application ecosystem and become the “ruler” of the new era.

This is a huge threat to Microsoft, as an investor.

In fact, Microsoft would prefer OpenAI to be responsible for technology output, while Microsoft focuses on application development. All cloud applications could be hosted on Azure, allowing Microsoft’s investment to generate huge returns.

So…

The capital market spares no one, and Microsoft cannot afford to fund someone else’s marriage.

Even during Microsoft’s previous conference, when they entered the Copilot era, they wanted to give users some small benefits from various aspects. But unfortunately, OpenAI overshadowed them, and the market response and enthusiasm were not good.

In this sudden coup, Microsoft’s influence is vaguely visible. Although there is no direct evidence, the silence behind Microsoft and the trend of events can give some clues.

Another reason is that Microsoft’s investment in OpenAI is actually just a subsidiary of OpenAI.

In other words, the shares obtained by Microsoft are only shares of the OpenAI subsidiary, which is completely subordinate to OpenAI Nonprofit, the parent company of OpenAI. According to the investment agreement between Microsoft and OpenAI, Microsoft’s benefit from OpenAI’s profits is limited to the profits stipulated in the charter of the OpenAI parent company, until AGI is achieved.

Within OpenAI, the “OpenAI Board of Directors,” comprising six individuals, has the power to determine whether AGI has been achieved and therefore stop sharing OpenAI’s profits with investors such as Microsoft. The board consists of Chairman and President Greg Brockman, Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever, CEO Sam Altman, and three other non-OpenAI employees Adam D’Angelo, Tasha McCauley, and Helen Toner.

Currently, Greg Brockman and Sam Altman have been kicked out, leaving only four individuals with the power to determine whether AGI has been achieved.

Perhaps it won’t be long before OpenAI cancels the “profit cap” distribution model. If that’s the case, Microsoft will be the biggest beneficiary.

Analysis of the Future Roadmap and Leadership Prospects of OpenAI

There is a saying that although the structure of OpenAI is a non-profit organization enveloping a for-profit one, once AGI is achieved, it can transition into a for-profit organization and retain its profits. If we assume that Sam Altman is able to obtain a large stake from the for-profit OpenAI, then all of this becomes more understandable.

There are six people on the OpenAI board, and two have already left, leaving the remaining individuals likely on the same side. This means that Ilya supports removing Sam Altman. I believe their biggest disagreement may be that Sam would want to quickly turn the larger multimodal models into products and connect them to various tools. On the other hand, Ilya may believe that the current multimodal models are not yet good enough when it comes to safety or alignment. The simplest example is that in the current GPT-4v, the text in the image inputs can be treated as instructions, which means that if you have multimodal capabilities, the entry point for attacks is essentially the multiplication of input modality by output modality. Therefore, multimodal capabilities can bring more risks. However, Sam Altman may consider that as long as multimodal capabilities are achieved, connected to an API, and achieve large-scale usage, AGI will likely follow, and he could even become the wealthiest person in the world.

In conclusion, I tend to think that today’s outcome is largely due to the structure of OpenAI being a fantasy, and the current outcome is also a natural result of human nature. It is easy for Sam Altman because he does not lack money or connections. I am more curious about what Ilya plans to do next. As the de facto helm of OpenAI, he will first want to ensure that the development of OpenAI aligns with the pace of alignment from an institutional standpoint, and there should also be enough funds to sustain the organization’s growth. Then, he will want to find a successor for the CEO position as quickly as possible, and may even look for a better CTO to maintain popularity. We might soon see Jeff Dean joining OpenAI.

OpenAI CEO Ultraman dismissed Potential impact on the launch of GPT-5

The resignation of President Greg is believed to be influenced by the dismissal of OpenAI CEO Ultraman.

After Ultraman was dismissed, OpenAI appointed the Chief Technology Officer, Mira Murati, as interim CEO. Interestingly, shortly after Ultraman was dismissed, Musk posted a recruitment link with the caption “Just in case someone needs it,” which was quite clever.

Recently, OpenAI held a product launch conference, announcing a series of upgrades to GPT-4. Currently, OpenAI is valued at nearly $90 billion, making it a super unicorn second only to ByteDance and SpaceX.

Earlier, Ultraman informed internal employees that OpenAI’s annual revenue had reached $1.3 billion, with an average monthly revenue of over $100 million. Last year, this number was only $13 million, so it has increased nearly 100 times in less than a year.

Now being kicked out, it’s a bit like what happened to Steve Jobs back then.

After the news of this high-level change at OpenAI was announced, Microsoft’s stock price dropped significantly, falling more than 2% at one point, hitting a new intraday low, and ultimately closing with a decline of nearly 1.7%.

Ultraman was dismissed, and the reason given by the board of directors was that Ultraman was not transparent enough in communication with the board. Does this mean that Ultraman was not capable?

However, since Ultraman was able to lead OpenAI in creating ChatGPT, it is hard to believe that he is an incapable CEO. The specific reasons will have to wait for Ultraman to come out and clarify himself.

Interestingly, OpenAI’s biggest investor, Microsoft, was also unaware of Ultraman’s dismissal until one minute before the news broke.

There were previous reports that OpenAI would launch GPT-5 by the end of the year or early next year, with even more powerful features and preliminary human consciousness. Now, it remains to be seen whether Ultraman’s departure will affect the launch of GPT-5.