Sam Altman has been fired as CEO of OpenAI, the company announced on Friday.
“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 company said in its blog post.
EDITED TO ADD direct link to OpenAI board announcement:
https://openai.com/blog/openai-announces-leadership-transition
I’m more surprised that the folks at OpenAI saw fit to fire him than I am that he committed fireable offenses.
Because he lied to them instead of for them.
But what he lied about is probably bigger news.
This has corporate PR speak all over it, but it is clear that it was circumventing the desires of the Board, and the chairman of the Board steps down as well.
The absolute hell happened?
If I had to guess, about how interested he was in keeping it non-profit in spirit. Which direction he believed in, I have no idea. I don’t know him or the board. The statement sounds like the board is leaning toward non-profit behavior, but I don’t believe a company who merely says “do no evil”.