Every day has its own twist. Fired from OpenAI to everyone’s surprise on Friday, close to returning to the company on Sunday, it is ultimately to Microsoft that the creator of ChatGPT, Sam Altman, will bounce back. It’s the boss of Microsoft himself, Satya Nadella, who announced it this Monday, November 20 on (ex-Twitter): “We are very pleased to announce that Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, along with other colleagues, will join Microsoft to lead a new advanced AI research team. We look forward to moving quickly to provide them with the resources necessary for their success,” he said on the social network.
Microsoft is one of the largest investors in OpenAI, in which it has invested almost $10 billion. But according to the creator of the newsletter Command Line of The Verge, the tech giant had only been informed of this dismissal shortly before it was made public, even though Sam Altman is one of the most fashionable personalities in the artificial intelligence sector. Which may explain the desire to keep the creator of ChatGPT under its fold.
The dismissal of its star
The OpenAI board of directors created a surprise on Friday by announcing the dismissal with immediate effect of the Silicon Valley star following “a deliberative review procedure by the board, which concluded that he “had not always been forthright in his communications with the board, hindering his ability to fulfill his responsibilities.” This body no longer has “confidence in its ability to lead OpenAI”, she then added.
Several managers of the company founded at the end of 2015 have since announced their resignations, in particular the chairman of the board of directors Greg Brockman. The first version of ChatGPT going live on November 30, 2022 kicked off a race in artificial intelligence (AI).
Widely considered a revolution comparable to the advent of the internet, generative AI makes it possible to produce texts, lines of code, images and sounds upon simple request in everyday language. It also raises serious concerns about the dangers for democracy (massive disinformation) or employment (replaced professions), in particular.
He was invited by Jean-Noël Barrot
The former director of OpenAI was also invited to France by the Minister Delegate for Digital Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot. “Sam Altman, his team and their talents are welcome if they wish in France where we are accelerating to put artificial intelligence at the service of the common good,” he wrote on the X network (formerly Twitter).