Openai, on November 21, announced the return of Sam Altman to the post of general director after a five -day conflict in the Council of Directors, which led to a short -term dismissal of Altman. Sam’s return was a turning point in managing the company.
On November 17, the technology world was shocked by the news of the dismissal of Altman by the Openai directors. The Council accused him of insufficient openness of communication. It is assumed that the conflict between Altman and the Board of Directors arose due to too fast commercialization of Openai technologies, not taking into account the risks. After the dismissal of Altman, the co -founder of Openai Greg Brocman and several leading engineers also resigned.
On November 20, more than 730 out of 770 (95%) employees rebelled and signed an open collective letter, expressing their dissatisfaction with the decision of the board of directors and threatening to leave the company. They demanded the resignation of the current council and return to the post of General Director Sam Altman, as well as the restoration of the co -founder and former President Greg Brockman.
altman in an interview with The Verge noted that his initial reaction to dismissal was a mixture of distrust, resentment and anger. However, he soon overcame his emotions and decided to return to the company, which he “loves very much and in which he has invested his vitality over the past four and a half years at full rate (but actually longer), devoting most of his time.” Note that after returning to OpenAi, Sam Altman spoke about his plans for the development of the company, and also presented the new board of directors.
In the process of an interview, Altman evaded the answer to the question of the reasons for his dismissal. Altman emphasized that the board of directors of Openai, led by Bret Taylor, will conduct an independent investigation of what happened. Altman expressed support for such a decision and stated that he was “very happy” with this outcome of events.
The Chief Technical Director of the World Murati also joined the interview, confirming that despite the internal shocks, the company did not lose a single employee and client. Murati noted that the team continued to work, supporting products and implementing new functions, and also continued research.
Altman also discussed the future of company management and improvement of the management structure, without revealing the details. He emphasized that the development of an effective management structure for technology with such a great influence is not a matter of one week and will require time to carefully think about it.
In conclusion, Altman expressed satisfaction with the current state of the company and its prospects, confirming its readiness to work on the continuation of the Openai mission in the field of safe and useful artificial intelligence (Artificial General Intelligence, Agi).