What is next for ousted OpenAI CEO Altman?
ALBAWABA – Ousted OpenAI CEO Sam Altman will not be returning to the company, despite pressures from Microsoft and other major investors, according to OpenAI Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever, who orchestrated Altman’s removal.
Bloomberg reported Monday that Sutskever had informed the company staff that Altman wouldn’t be returning.
Instead, Twitch CEO Emmett Shear was hired as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of OpenAI, Bloomberg confirmed. Whereas dismissed OpenAI CEO Altman is slated to Microsoft, Reuters reported on Monday.
Unnamed sources told Bloomberg Shear had won over the company’s board of directors as he appeared to recognize the existential threats that artificial intelligence (AI) presented. Whilst Altman appears to have been pushing for the advancement of the tech with little regard to such concerns.
As for Altman, Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella said in posts on X that Altman would become CEO of a new research group inside the company, along with others departing OpenAI, such as outgoing President Greg Brockman, who quit following Altman's ouster.
What do we know about the new OpenAI CEO?
Shear is a computer scientist who spent more than a decade building Amazon.com Inc.’s game-streaming site Twitch into one of the world’s most successful video platforms. He stepped down as CEO of Twitch earlier this year and is regarded as having the heft and ability to lead a large engineering group, as per Bloomberg.
Twitch's Shear will replace Altman as OpenAI CEO - Shutterstock
Like some members of OpenAI’s board, Shear has ties to the AI-skeptical effective altruism movement, Reuters reported. It is a pseudo-philosophical movement that seeks to donate money to head off existential risks.
Many effective altruists argue scenarios in which powerful AI systems could be used to create serious and widespread harm.
OpenAI and its globe-trotting co-founder Altman, who is not an effective altruist, kicked off a race for artificial intelligence supremacy from Washington to Beijing. His work invited comparisons to Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, according to Bloomberg.
Board members of the San Francisco-based startup reached out to at least two prominent executives in the tech industry in hopes one would take the role, another unnamed source told Reuter.
The decision to hire Shear is a stinging rebuke to investors led by Microsoft Corp. and Thrive Capital, who urged the board to step down and wanted Altman back at the helm.
