Sam Altman Joins Microsoft; Emmett Shear Assumes Interim CEO Role at OpenAI
ChatGPT’s co-founder, Sam Altman, has joined Microsoft to lead the company’s new Advanced AI Research Team. Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, shared this information on Monday. Besides Altman, other key members of OpenAI, including former CEO Greg Brockman, will also be joining Microsoft.
Satya Nadella stated, “We are committed to our partnership with OpenAI. We are excited to collaborate with Sam and OpenAI’s new team to learn and work together.” He also expressed enthusiasm about Altman and Greg leading the new AI research team at Microsoft.
Sam Altman Appointed as OpenAI’s CEO Following Leadership Change
On the other side, former Twitch CEO, Emmett Shear, will take on the responsibility of CEO at OpenAI following Altman’s departure. This transition was initially announced on Sunday night internally to the company staff after Altman stepped down.
The board directors, including Adam D’Angelo, Helen Toner, Ilya Sutskever, and Tasha McCauley, have signed a memo expressing support. The New York Times reported that the memo stated, “Removing Altman was the only way to advance OpenAI’s mission, and the board stands by its decision.”
Emmett Shear, Co-Founder of Video Streaming Platform Twitch
Emmett Shear, born in 1983, is an American entrepreneur. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Yale University in 2005. Shear founded the live video streaming platform Twitch in 2011 and served as its CEO until March 2023 when he resigned.
Sam Altman Meets Company Staff at Headquarters
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and former Chief Scientist Greg Brockman were invited to speak at the company’s San Francisco headquarters on Sunday. Mira Murati and the leadership team extended an invitation for further discussions. Altman shared a photo of himself wearing an OpenAI guest badge with the caption: “First and last time wearing a badge in OpenAI. From one era to the next.
Investors Put Pressure on the Board to Call Back Altman
Investors were exerting pressure on the board to recall Altman, who unexpectedly resigned on Friday, November 17. This led to significant opposition on OpenAI’s board, with some stakeholders and employees pressing the board for Altman’s reinstatement. Microsoft, OpenAI’s largest investor, was among those strongly advocating for Altman’s return.
Co-founder Greg Brockman Also Resigned
Following Altman’s departure, co-founder Greg Brockman also submitted his resignation. The company has been in discussions with friends and stakeholders to initiate the company without Altman. This move surprised many, as Brockman had earlier expressed astonishment at the decision to remove Altman. He wrote an email to X stating…
Board’s Recent Actions Leave Me Shocked and Disheartened
The events unfolded today have left both Sam and me deeply saddened. We appreciate the time we’ve spent at OpenAI, the support of our customers, stakeholders, and everyone we’ve connected with. We have been trying to understand what really happened, a matter that we now know…
- Late last night, Sam received a text from Elon, suggesting a conversation on Friday afternoon. Sam attended the meeting on Google Meet, and Greg was also present on the board, excluding me. Sam was informed that he is being removed from his role and will be put on leave. This was shortly followed by an OpenAI blog post.
- At 12:19 PM, I received a text from Sam, stating that he is leaving the board. At 12:23 PM, Sam sent me the Google Meet link. He told me he is stepping down from his position in the board, not the company, and a blog post would be published by OpenAI soon.
- As far as we know, the management team was informed about this shortly after. Mira also got the news the same night.
Please do not jump to conclusions. We will be fine. Big things are always messy in the short term.
Mira Murati Takes CEO Responsibility Amidst Crisis
After Sam Altman’s removal, the board appointed Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Mira Murati as the acting CEO. The board mentioned that the search for a permanent CEO would continue.
Born in Albania, Mira Murati studied in Canada and is a 34-year-old mechanical engineer. She became a hybrid race car builder while an undergraduate at Dartmouth College. During school, she interned at Goldman Sachs and later worked as a senior product manager at Tesla for three years. It was there that she played a crucial role in the development of the Model X car. She spent three years at Tesla as a senior product manager. From here, she found inspiration to venture into the field of AI.
OpenAI recruited her as the VP of AI and Vice President of Applied AI. At OpenAI, she played a key role in developing breakthrough products like ChatGPT and DALL-E. Despite being a non-profit at that time, she worked to secure funding for AI research and to build non-profit AI products. Mira Murati has been instrumental in the development of revolutionary products at OpenAI.
OpenAI – The Company Behind ChatGPT
This company was founded by 7 co-founders:
- Sam Altman: Entrepreneur. He led the startup accelerator Y Combinator before becoming the CEO of OpenAI.
- Ilya Sutskever: Chief Scientist of OpenAI.
- Greg Brockman: OpenAI’s CTO.
- Wojciech Zaremba: Head of the Codex and Language Model Research team at OpenAI.
- Elon Musk: Involved in the founding of OpenAI.
- John Schulman: AI research scientist.
- Andrej Karpathy: Research scientist.
Their roles, especially that of Sam Altman, are crucial as he played a key role in the formation of the research that led to this AI-related breakthrough and how it would be developed.
Introduction of ChatGPT in November 2022
In November 2022, the company launched ChatGPT globally, and it quickly gained popularity as an AI tool. From composing music and poetry to writing essays, ChatGPT became a one-stop solution for various tasks.
The tool had initially faced restrictions in New York public schools because teachers were unfamiliar with the technology. However, the ban was lifted a few days later as people began to realize the potential of using technology in education.
Types of Questions You Can Ask ChatGPT
You can ask any type of question, from writing emails to creating a viral video, and ChatGPT will provide complete solutions in concise and accurate language. It even gives advice on personal matters, such as suggestions for meeting your spouse.
Instead of lengthy responses, ChatGPT provides information in short and precise words. For example, if a student requests an essay on democracy, they can simply type “Write an essay on democracy,” and ChatGPT will generate the text for them. The complete text will be visible for further review.
