OpenAI: What happened and the implications for the industry

Welcome to the 19th issue of the Tech Wrap-Up Europe newsletter.

Every fortnight, we'll be sharing interesting stories and expert insights from LinkedIn members.?

In this issue, Sam Shead looks at how OpenAI 's (OAI) events last week sparked a wider industry conversation about the rapid development of artificial intelligence.?

The technology industry has spent the past 10 days keeping a close eye on developments in the world of artificial intelligence.?

On Friday 17th November, Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI – a world leading intelligence lab that is backed by 微软 , LinkedIn 's parent company – was fired by the company's board.?

Over the following days, Altman was replaced twice and eventually reinstated. The board that orchestrated all this stepped down and has now been replaced by a new one.?

Here's an overview of the timeline of events:

Friday 17th

It was looking like any other regular Friday in the AI world until bam…Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI and one of the co-founders alongside Elon Musk, was fired by the board of directors, sending shockwaves through Silicon Valley and beyond.?

"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," OpenAI's post said . "The board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI." The finer details were not disclosed and they remain a mystery.?

The board announced that CTO Miria Murati would take over as the interim CEO of the company. Meanwhile OpenAI president Greg Brockman was told he was being removed from the board but kept in his other roles at the company. A few hours later, he resigned altogether. "Based on today's news, I quit," he said.?

On Sunday 19th, it emerged that OpenAI had appointed Twitch co-founder Emmett Shear as the new interim CEO, replacing Murati who held the position for less than 48 hours after he was appointed on Friday.?

Monday 20th

On Monday, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced that Microsoft was hiring Altman and Brockman to head up a new AI research unit within the company.?

"We’re extremely excited to share the news that Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, together with colleagues, will be joining Microsoft to lead a new advanced AI research team," Nadella posted on LinkedIn . "We look forward to moving quickly to provide them with the resources needed for their success." He added that Microsoft is committed to its partnership with OpenAI.?

Meanwhile, Ilya Sutskever , the OpenAI cofounder and chief scientist who reportedly started the whole issue, made a U-turn.

"I deeply regret my participation in the board's actions," he wrote on X . "I never intended to harm OpenAI. I love everything we've built together and I will do everything I can to reunite the company."

By the end of the day, over 90% of OpenAI's 770 staff signed an open letter threatening to quit if the board didn't resign.?

Tuesday 21st/Wednesday 22nd

Late on Tuesday/early Wednesday, OpenAI announced that Altman was returning to lead the company as CEO and a new board was appointed.?

"We have reached an agreement in principle for Sam Altman to return to OpenAI as CEO with a new initial board of Bret Taylor (Chair), Larry Summers, and Adam D'Angelo ," OpenAI posted on LinkedIn ? "We are collaborating to figure out the details. Thank you so much for your patience through this."

In a statement , Altman said he loved OpenAI.?

"Everything I’ve done over the past few days has been in service of keeping this team and its mission together," he said. "When I decided to join msft [Microsoft] on Sun [Sunday] evening, it was clear that was the best path for me and the team. With the new board and w[with] Satya’s support, I’m looking forward to returning to OpenAI, and building on our strong partnership with msft [Microsoft]."

Microsoft was "encouraged" by the changes to the OpenAI board, Nadella said in a statement .?

"We believe this is a first essential step on a path to more stable, well-informed, and effective governance," he said. "Sam, Greg, and I have talked and agreed they have a key role to play along with the OAI leadership team in ensuring OAI continues to thrive and build on its mission. We look forward to building on our strong partnership and delivering the value of this next generation of AI to our customers and partners."

Why did the board make the call??

It's not entirely clear but there are a few things we do know about OpenAI that may be linked to the decision.?

OpenAI is slightly different to traditional tech companies. It was initially set up as a non-profit to build artificial general intelligence (AGI) that is safe and benefits all of humanity. However, it changed its structure at the end of 2019 when it announced it was going to set up a for-profit unit within the organisation.?

"Since the beginning, we have believed that powerful AI, culminating in AGI – meaning a highly autonomous system that outperforms humans at most economically valuable work – has the potential to reshape society and bring tremendous benefits, along with risks that must be safely addressed," the company writes on its website.?

"The increasing capabilities of present day systems mean it’s more important than ever for OpenAI and other AI companies to share the principles, economic mechanisms, and governance models that are core to our respective missions and operations."?

The board said Altman had not been "consistently candid" in his communications, without elaborating on the details.?

The rapid pace of technological development is raising concerns among some AI industry insiders. Leaders, researchers and engineers are divided on whether AI could one day pose a threat to humanity's very existence, with some concerned that it could start to improve itself and take humans out of the loop.?

If that happens, people in this camp say there's a slight chance of artificial general intelligence (AGI) or superintelligences being created that can do practically every cognitive task better than a human. Those on the other side of the fence, including Meta 's chief AI scientist Yann LeCun , say this is a far-fetched sci-fi scenario that's highly unlikely to ever play out.?

Startups react to OpenAI tumult

OpenAI’s technology led to the creation of hundreds of startups as founders realised they could integrate ChatGPT's text generating tool into their apps.

Last week, however, many of these entrepreneurs who had "locked-in" to OpenAI's technology were worried about their future as they watched the events unfold at the AI lab.?

Have recent events at the company changed the startup and generative AI ecosystem??

"The landscape is much more open than it was a week ago," Conviction founder Sarah Guo said on 彭博资讯 Technology.?

Brad Bollenbach , who runs ChatGPT courses, wrote on LinkedIn that the events at OpenAI are a signal that the fastest changing industry in the world is even more volatile than we thought.

"ChatGPT Plus is still 100x better than anything else (for now), and it will be the easiest thing to switch away from if and when something better comes along," he said.?

What are your predictions for the AI industry and what guardrails do you think are needed to ensure the technology is developed in an ethical manner? Find out what other AI experts think and share your thoughts in the comments below.

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Gary Marcus – Marcus is a scientist, best-selling author and serial entrepreneur.?

Seán ó héigeartaigh – O hEigeartaigh is the executive director of the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER) at the University of Cambridge.?

Joanna Bryson – Bryson is a professor at Hertie School in Berlin. She works on artificial intelligence, ethics and collaborative cognition.

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