The board of directors of “Open AI” faced significant criticism throughout most of the past year, 2022, for being too small and highly divided, hindering the effective management of one of the fastest-growing startups in Silicon Valley.
On Friday, November 17, the flaw became evident when four board members dismissed Sam Altman, the influential and popular CEO of Open AI. The dismissal sparked a five-day turmoil, during which Altman mobilized all of the company’s approximately 770 employees to pressure the resignation of the board and his reinstatement. Altman succeeded, returning to the company on Tuesday, November 21, after days of negotiations over his position and the composition of the board.
Late on Tuesday, Open AI announced that Sam Altman had returned to the company after being forced to resign by the board of the emerging artificial intelligence company.
According to a report by The New York Times, Altman’s return to the company was the result of dramatic maneuvers involving financial power, a pressure campaign from allies, intense media interest, and steadfast belief in the role of artificial intelligence.
Open AI, which seemed on the verge of collapse just one year after launching the popular ChatGPT program, replaced the heavily criticized board and appointed a new one, consisting of a more traditional group, including former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers and directors from the company, as well as a founder of the software giant Salesforce.
More members are expected to join the board from the artificial intelligence community, in addition to senior directors from the company and executives from Microsoft, the largest investor in the company.
Open AI has an unconventional administrative structure, controlled by a non-profit board of directors, and investors in the company have no formal way to influence decisions.
However, no one expected that four board members, including the chief scientists of Open AI and one of its founders, Elija Sutskever, would suddenly dismiss Altman, claiming that he could no longer be trusted with the company’s mission of building artificial intelligence “benefiting all of humanity.”
The immediate fallout was Greg Brockman, the company’s president who also helped co-found the company eight years ago, resigning in protest of the decision.
The board had increasingly become frustrated with Altman’s behavior over the past year, believing that he needed to be brought under control, according to two informed sources cited by The New York Times.
Leave a Reply