(Finance) – Plot twist after plot twist: after less than 48 hours OpenAI founder Sam Altman is back on track and asks for a new Board who, contrary to his initial beliefs, represents the shareholders and their interests. The perfect machine that the American entrepreneur, father of the company researching artificial intelligence, had set up has turned against him and undermined his own values.
Everything has begun Friday 17 Novemberwhen the OpenAI Boardwith a lightning decision, ousted CEO and co-founder Sam Altman by the management of the company, appointing an interim CEO, Mira Murati, who together with the employees publicly expressed all her support for Altman on social media. And so did the President and co-founder Greg Brockmanwho was demoted and pressured to resign.
A decision made by a completely independent bodydisconnected from the shareholders and from the founder of OpenAI himself, who had thought of managing his creation in this way, born as a non-profit organization, capable of functioning without interference.
OpenAI had been founded in 2015 as a research-focused company in the field of artificial intelligence, but four years later Altman had created the commercial division, which launched ChatGPT, a product so successful that it has convinced a giant of the caliber of Microsoft to invest 13 billion of dollars in the project, without having the majority (Microsoft holds 49% of the capital) and without even having the right to appoint a member of the Board.
This is why the Board’s surprise decision to eliminate its founder outraged the public shareholders majority – in addition to Microsoft also the venture capital fund Thrive Capital – which they are doing pressure for Altman’s reinstatement with a new Boardwhich this time will also be an expression of the shareholders.
A story that made us think a lot and that was born from complex structure of the OpenAI Boardborn without any connection to the capital raised for finance researchwith the sole objective of make choices dictated by ethics for the good of humanity. They are members of the control group prominent personalities in the world of research first ed Ilya Sutskeverhead of research at OpenAI, supported by Helen Tonerhead of strategy and basic research at the Center for Security and Emerging Technology, Tasha McCauleyscientist who also served as CEO of Fellow Robots, Adam D’Angeloformer Facebook executive and co-founder of Quora.
What really happened within that group? Among many hypothesis the possibility that a Altman’s subversive and reckless idea about the future of OpenAI has alarmed the Board, which as a consequence has made a sudden decision in an attempt to maintain the impartiality of its decisions and protect the safety of humanity.
(Photo: Levart_Photographer on Unsplash)