Three senior OpenAI researchers resign amid escalating crisis following the removal of Sam Altman as CEO
OpenAI, in an official statement addressing Altman's removal, conveyed a lack of "confidence" in his leadership abilities, citing concerns about communication transparency.
OpenAI experienced a major surprise as Sam Altman was abruptly removed from his CEO position on a Friday. In the aftermath, three influential researchers chose to resign, as reported by The Information.
Reports from The Information revealed that three senior researchers departed from OpenAI following the sudden removal of CEO Sam Altman.
Altman, a co-founder of OpenAI since its establishment in 2015, learned of his termination through a video call initiated by the company's board.
OpenAI, in an official statement addressing Altman's removal, conveyed a lack of "confidence" in his leadership abilities, citing concerns about communication transparency.
In response to this development, Jakub Pachocki, OpenAI's research director; Aleksander Madry, heading a team focused on AI risks; and Szymon Sidor, a seasoned researcher of seven years, informed their colleagues about their resignations, as reported by The Information.
Earlier in the year, Altman publicly recognized Pachocki's significant role in the development of GPT-4, expressing gratitude on X (formerly Twitter) for Pachocki's exceptional leadership and technical vision.
The reverberations continued with OpenAI's co-founder and president, Greg Brockman, announcing his departure from the company.
After learning today’s news, this is the message I sent to the OpenAI team: https://t.co/NMnG16yFmm pic.twitter.com/8x39P0ejOM
— Greg Brockman (@gdb) November 18, 2023
Brockman, in an X post, expressed immense pride in the collective achievements of the past eight years but declared his resignation based on the news of the day.
Providing insights into the unfolding events, Brockman shared a concise timeline on X, shedding light on Altman's dismissal and the involvement of Ilya Sutskever, another co-founder and the company's chief scientist.
According to Brockman, Sutskever attempted to reassure the unsettled staff in the aftermath of Altman's departure. During an all-hands meeting where questions about the nature of Altman's firing were raised, Sutskever disagreed with the term "coup," asserting that the board was fulfilling its duty to the nonprofit's mission—ensuring the development of AGI for the benefit of humanity.
