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What Happened in the World of Artificial Intelligence? What Happened in the World of Artificial Intelligence?
(32 minutes later)
The world of artificial intelligence looked very different on Monday, after a weekend of upheaval at OpenAI, one of the world’s most prominent A.I. companies.The world of artificial intelligence looked very different on Monday, after a weekend of upheaval at OpenAI, one of the world’s most prominent A.I. companies.
The abrupt ouster of Sam Altman as chief executive of OpenAI on Friday has scrambled the industry, with investors, executives and others getting to grips with a head-spinning series of twists that reshuffled the major players at the forefront of one the hottest areas in technology.The abrupt ouster of Sam Altman as chief executive of OpenAI on Friday has scrambled the industry, with investors, executives and others getting to grips with a head-spinning series of twists that reshuffled the major players at the forefront of one the hottest areas in technology.
In the end, after OpenAI rejected appeals to restore Mr. Altman to the top job, Microsoft, the company’s biggest investor, announced on Sunday it would hire him to run a new advanced research lab. The announcement restored Microsoft’s stock price, which had slumped after the ouster.In the end, after OpenAI rejected appeals to restore Mr. Altman to the top job, Microsoft, the company’s biggest investor, announced on Sunday it would hire him to run a new advanced research lab. The announcement restored Microsoft’s stock price, which had slumped after the ouster.
More broadly, the turmoil highlighted an unresolved debate over artificial intelligence, which many see as the most important new technology since web browsers but also as potential danger if misused.More broadly, the turmoil highlighted an unresolved debate over artificial intelligence, which many see as the most important new technology since web browsers but also as potential danger if misused.
Here’s what you need to know about Mr. Altman’s departure, his new job and what could happen next.
On Friday, Mr. Altman was dismissed as OpenAI’s chief.
A dispute with a colleague at OpenAI appears to have played a role.
Ilya Sutskever, a board member who founded OpenAI with Mr. Altman and several others, was said to be growing alarmed that the company’s technology could pose a significant risk, and that Mr. Altman was not paying close enough attention to the potential harms.
“It doesn’t seem at all implausible that we will have computers — data centers — that are much smarter than people,” Mr. Sutskever said recently on a podcast. “What would such A.I.s do? I don’t know.”
The board has been tight-lipped about the reasons for his departure. In the announcement on Friday, the board said little more than that Mr. Altman “was not consistently candid in his communications with the board.”
It was confusion among employees at OpenAI, and distress among the company’s investors. Microsoft was said to be particularly alarmed by Mr. Altman’s dismissal.
Microsoft, as well as other OpenAI investors, found out about Mr. Altman’s firing either a minute before the announcement, or after it went public.
As some pressed for his reinstatement, Mr. Altman was said to have entered discussions with investors about a new artificial intelligence start-up. Mr. Altman is well known within the tech world not only from OpenAI work but also from his years leading Y Combinator, the Silicon Valley incubator.
On Sunday evening, after 48 hours of furious negotiations over the company’s future, OpenAI’s board said it would stand by its decision to oust Mr. Altman and named the second interim chief in two days: Emmett Shear, a former executive at Twitch, would succeed Mira Murati, a longtime OpenAI executive who had been appointed interim chief on Friday.
In a memo seen by The New York Times, the company said Mr. Altman’s “behavior and lack of transparency in his interactions with the board undermined the board’s ability to effectively supervise the company in the manner it was mandated to do.”
Late Sunday, Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s chief, announced he had hired Mr. Altman and Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s former president who quit on Friday, to lead an advanced A.I. research team.
“We’re extremely excited,” Mr. Nadella said on X. “We look forward to moving quickly to provide them with the resources needed for their success.”
He said Microsoft “remain committed to our partnership with OpenAI.”
By Monday morning, more than 550 of OpenAI’s 700 employees had signed a letter saying they might quit to join Mr. Altman at Microsoft unless the start-up’s board resigned, three people who viewed the letter said.
Curiously, Mr. Sutskever also signed the letter. He posted on X saying he deeply regretted his role in the board’s decision.
“I never intended to harm OpenAI,” he said. “I love everything we’ve built together and I will do everything I can to reunite the company.”
In a statement on X, Mr. Shear said that he would hire an investigator to look into “the entire process leading up to this point and generate a full report.” He also said that he confirmed with the board that Mr. Altman’s ouster was not about a particular disagreement on safety.
“I’m not crazy enough to take this job without board support for commercializing our awesome models,” Mr. Shear said.
The industry is split among so-called doomers who say the technology is moving too quickly and others who say it can make lifesaving enhancements.
More than 1,000 tech leaders signed a letter in March calling for a pause in the development of A.I.’s most advanced systems, saying the tools have “profound risks to society and humanity.”
Mr. Altman, who did not sign that letter, has urged responsible management of A.I. while also promoting the technology, and in recent months pitched ideas to investors and others.
J. Edward Moreno contributed reporting.