Sam Altman suddenly resigns as CEO of OpenAI

OpenAI said it conducted a “deliberate review process” and “concluded that he (Altman) failed to maintain candor in his communications with the board, which hampered his ability to carry out his responsibilities.”

“The board no longer has confidence in Altman’s ability to continue to lead OpenAI,” the statement said.

OpenAI's board of directors includes chief scientist Ilya Sutskever and independent directors like Quora CEO Adam D'Angelo, tech entrepreneur Tasha McCauley, and Helen Toner of the Georgetown Center for Security and Emerging Technology. OpenAI says the board is the "overall governing body for all OpenAI activities."

Openai CEO Sam Altman.jpg — Former OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is one of the most famous figures in the world of artificial intelligence. (Photo: Bloomberg)

Not only Altman, OpenAI President Greg Brockman will also step down as Chairman of the Board and maintain his position at the company, reporting to the CEO.

On X, Sam Altman acknowledged that he was leaving OpenAI, but did not address any of the board’s allegations. “I loved my time at OpenAI,” he wrote. “I have changed personally and hopefully the world a little bit. Most of all, I enjoy working with talented people.” He added that there would be “more to come.”

OpenAI – a startup that Microsoft has invested billions of dollars in – became famous late last year after releasing its chatbot ChatGPT to the public. The service receives user prompts and executes requests in creative ways, kicking off a generative artificial intelligence (AI) race in the tech world.

A Microsoft spokesperson said the company has a “long-term partnership with OpenAI, and Microsoft remains committed to Mira and their team as we bring the next era of AI to customers.”

OpenAI launched as a nonprofit in 2015 with backing from Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who reportedly pledged $1 billion to the project. Before taking on the CEO role, Altman was president of startup accelerator Y Combinator. Earlier in his career, he founded social networking company Loopt.

As ChatGPT has grown in popularity, Altman has become a poster child for the booming global AI industry. In September, the 38-year-old tech executive was granted a “golden visa” by Indonesia, which grants 10 years of privileges in the country for housing and other benefits.

Altman visited various Asia- Pacific countries over the summer including Singapore, India, China, South Korea and Japan, meeting with leaders and government officials, speaking publicly about the development of AI and the need for regulation.

He testified before the US Senate in May, calling on lawmakers to regulate AI, citing the potential negative impacts on the job market, the information ecosystem, and other economic and social concerns. “If this technology goes wrong, it can go completely wrong,” he said at the time. “And we want to be vocal about that. We want to work with the government to prevent that from happening.”

Before opening his Senate testimony, Altman also spoke at a dinner with about 60 lawmakers, who were reportedly impressed by his speech and performance. More recently, Altman spoke this week at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference in San Francisco.

OpenAI held its first developer conference in early November, highlighting the startup's growing popularity in the tech industry. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella made a surprise appearance at the event, joining Altman on stage to discuss the startup's AI technologies and its partnership with Microsoft.

(According to CNBC)

Many hackers use ChatGPT to develop malware and scam software . Referring to the 'dark side' of the ChatGPT artificial intelligence tool, Dr. Dang Minh Tuan said that many hackers have been using ChatGPT to develop malware and scam software.

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