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- I’M BACK! (And Sam Altman Just Got Fired)
I’M BACK! (And Sam Altman Just Got Fired)
A Personal Comeback Meets Major Shakeup in the AI World!
Hello Remarkable Change-makers,
Guess who’s back? I know, I know… I have been completely heads-down in research, speaking and lots of customer feedback… but I missed YOU!
And you won't believe what just happened at OpenAI (the company that made Chat-GPT, DALL-e, etc) . Buckle up, because this is quite a story!
First and foremost, let's set the stage. Picture this - it's a regular Friday, the smell of brewing coffee is in the air, and suddenly, out of the blue, OpenAI drops the bombshell: Sam Altman, their CEO, got the boot. Yep, you read that right. Mr. Altman has left the building!
From OpenAI’s board…
So, what happened? Well, it seems that the board at OpenAI had some issues with Sam's "candor" in communicating with them. Essentially, they felt he wasn't being consistently transparent, which hindered their ability to do their thing. You know, those pesky little responsibilities like steering the ship.
And who's going to keep the OpenAI ship sailing smoothly through the stormy seas of the AI world? Meet the new captain: Mira Murati, the former CTO, who'll be stepping up as interim CEO. The hunt for a permanent CEO is on, but in the meantime, Mira's got the wheel.
Their CTO becomes their Interim CEO…
Oh, and guess when the OpenAI crew found out about this? When it was publicly announced. Talk about a shocker!
Now, don't you worry about Sam. He's not holding any grudges. He's shared that he loved his time at OpenAI and that it's been transformative for him. Plus, he cherished working with the talented team there. Sam's certainly left us hanging about what's next for him, but we're sure he's got something interesting up his sleeve.
Sam Altman on Twitter…
This is a surprising twist in the OpenAI saga, especially considering Sam's been the face of the company. He spearheaded last year's launch of the super popular ChatGPT and was even center stage at OpenAI's first-ever DevDay conference just last week.
And what about Microsoft, who's been pouring billions into OpenAI? They're in it for the long haul. They're committed to working with Mira and the OpenAI team to usher in the next era of AI.
In other news, there's been some chatter about Sam and Jony Ive, Apple's former chief design officer, discussing the creation of the "iPhone of artificial intelligence.” However, Sam was quick to downplay these rumors at a recent Wall Street Journal conference.
Finally, remember that Sam was a cofounder of OpenAI and served as a co-chair with Elon Musk initially. Musk left in 2018 to avoid a conflict of interest with Tesla and has since founded his own AI company, xAI. And speaking of big moves, OpenAI also announced that co-founder Greg Brockman will be stepping down as chairman of the board, although he's not leaving the company.
That's the scoop, tech fans! Quite a rollercoaster, right? Stay tuned for more updates as we follow this fascinating saga.
Keep innovating!
-Chris “I’m Back” Winfield
Founder, Understanding AI