Sam Altman fired as CEO of OpenAI
In a sudden move, Altman is leaving after the company’s board determined that he ‘was not consistently candid in his communications.’ President and co-founder Greg Brockman has also quit.
Update November 18th, 7:02PM ET: Multiple sources tell The Verge
that after firing Sam Altman, OpenAI’s board is in discussions with him about returning. Our original story continues below.
Sam Altman has been fired as CEO of OpenAI,
the company announced on Friday.
“Mr. Altman’s departure follows a deliberative review process by the board, which concluded that he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities,” the company said in its blog post. “The board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI.”
Chief technology officer Mira Murati will be the interim CEO, effective immediately. The company will be conducting a search for a permanent CEO successor. When contacted by
The Verge, OpenAI’s communications department declined to comment beyond the blog post. Employees at OpenAI found out about the news when it was announced publicly, according to multiple sources.
“I loved my time at OpenAI,” Altman said in
a post on X (formerly Twitter). “It was transformative for me personally, and hopefully the world a little bit.” In a
follow-up post, he described the experience of his firing as “sorta like reading your own eulogy while you’re still alive.”
OpenAI’s announcement also said that co-founder and president Greg Brockman will be stepping down as chair of the board but remain at the company. Hours after it was published, Brockman
posted to X that he had quit “based on today’s news.”
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