SAN FRANCISCO: The board of the company behind ChatGPT has fired OpenAI CEO Sam Altman — to many, the human face of generative AI sending shock waves across the tech industry.
OpenAI’s Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati will serve as interim CEO, the company said, adding that it will conduct a formal search for a permanent CEO.
“Altman’s departure follows a deliberative review process by the board, which concluded that he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities,” OpenAI said in the blog without elaborating.
Greg Brockman, OpenAI president and co-founder, who stepped down from the board as chairman as part of the management shuffle, quit the company, he announced on messaging platform X late on Friday. “Based on today’s news, I quit,” he wrote.
It came as a surprise to Altman and Brockman as well, who learned the board’s decision within minutes of the announcement, Brockman said. “We too are still trying to figure out exactly what happened,” he posted on X, formerly Twitter.