The Real Story Behind Sam Altman’s Firing from OpenAI
Recently, a new book titled “The Optimist: Sam Altman, OpenAI, and the Race to Invent the Future” has shed light on the events that led to the brief firing of CEO Sam Altman by OpenAI’s board in 2023. Written by Wall Street Journal reporter Keach Hagey, the book reveals some startling details that were previously unknown.
According to the book, the board members of the nonprofit organization grew increasingly concerned when they discovered that Altman had been involved in questionable practices. One such issue was the revelation of an OpenAI Startup Fund that was actually owned by Altman personally, raising ethical and conflict of interest concerns.
Simultaneously, co-founder Ilya Sutskever and CTO Mira Murati were said to have gathered evidence of what they perceived as Altman’s toxic and dishonest behavior. They reportedly presented screenshots from Murati’s Slack channel that showcased instances where Altman had misled the board. For instance, Altman allegedly falsely claimed that the legal department had approved the release of GPT-4 Turbo without joint safety board review, a statement that was contradicted by the company’s top lawyer.
Upon receiving this evidence, the board made the decision to remove Altman from his position and appointed Murati as the interim CEO. However, this move backfired as OpenAI employees, including Sutskever and Murati, penned a letter demanding Altman’s reinstatement. Ultimately, Altman returned to his role, while Sutskever and Murati decided to depart from OpenAI and pursue their own entrepreneurial ventures.
