In his first statement as OpenAI’s new interim head, former Twitch CEO Emmett Shear said the firing of Sam Altman was “very bad” and “severely damaged our trust.” Shear argues that Altman was not fired because of “security disputes,” but that the process and communication surrounding his removal from the company was poorly handled.
Shear claims he accepted a “unique opportunity” to serve as interim CEO just “hours” after he received the call asking him to take the position. He accepted the offer because he believes he has an “obligation to help” OpenAI, which is “one of the most important companies in existence today.”
Shear said he questioned the reasons for Sam Altman’s removal as CEO before accepting the position, and maintains that it was not because of a security controversy and that the company’s board of directors had a different reasoning. “I’m not crazy enough to take this job without board support to commercialize our amazing models,” he wrote.
On Friday, OpenAI co-founder Altman was forced to leave the company. In a statement announcing his departure, the board said it “no longer has confidence in his ability to continue to lead OpenAI.” The decision left investors, particularly Microsoft, “completely shocked,” company officials said.
Efforts by a group of OpenAI executives and investors to reinstate Sam Altman as CEO have stalled due to controversy over the composition and role of the board of directors. Altman was ready to return, but demanded changes in the company’s management, including the removal of current board members. He also wanted to be exonerated for his crimes. As a result, the negotiations reached a dead end.
And early Monday morning, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced that Altman and former OpenAI President Greg Brockman were joining the tech giant, which is OpenAI’s largest shareholder, to lead “a new cutting-edge artificial intelligence research group “
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