Who’s Winning the OpenAI Battle? Sam Altman’s Allies and Adversaries Revealed!
Following the dismissal of Sam Altman, co-founder and CEO of OpenAI, numerous figures from the technology sector have emerged.
From co-founders to CEOs, here’s where they are and what they’re playing in the AI company’s accelerating series of events.
Sam Altman
The 38-year-old American entrepreneur founded OpenAI in 2015 and took the reins as CEO in 2019 before being suddenly ousted by the board on November 17.
Now the company’s biggest investors, including Microsoft Corp., Thrive Capital and Tiger Global Management, are pushing the company to bring him back. OpenAI was “optimistic” that it could bring back Altman and other key people who left, chief strategy officer Jason Kwon said in a memo to staff.
Greg Brockman
Brockman, who co-founded OpenAI eight years ago in his apartment, resigned as president Friday hours after the board ousted Altman. In a post on social media site X, Brockman wrote: “Based on today’s news, I quit.”
Brockman was to resign from his position as chairman of the board, but will continue in the company, reporting to the new CEO.
Mira Murati
OpenAI appointed Murat as interim CEO after the company ousted Altman. He wrote that he was “honored and humbled” to take on the role and said it was important for OpenAI to remain “focused, motivated and true to our core values,” according to a memo seen by Bloomberg.
Formerly CTO, the Albanian-born, Dartmouth-educated engineer helped develop some of the company’s best-known products.
Satya Nadella
Microsoft’s CEO reached out to Altman after the firing to offer support in his next steps, people with knowledge of the situation told Bloomberg.
Microsoft is OpenAI’s largest investor, with a stake of more than $10 billion. Nadella succeeded Steve Ballmer as CEO of Microsoft in 2014.
Ilya Sutskever
Sutskever, the chief scientist and founder of OpenAI, was one of the board members with whom Altman clashed on some aspects, including the pace of development of generative artificial intelligence, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg.
He asked to call Altman on Friday and told him he was kicked out of Google Meet, Brockman said in a message to X.
