Altman becomes head of ChatGPT developer OpenAI again
A few days after his surprising dismissal, Sam Altman is back as head of the ChatGPT developer OpenAI. In addition, the board of directors will be renewed, as OpenAI announced. Altman was only forced out by the old board of directors on Friday and decided to join OpenAI investor Microsoft on Sunday. Around 700 of OpenAI's 770 employees then threatened to follow him - which would have effectively meant the end of the company.
According to media reports, a dispute over the direction of OpenAI led to Altman's departure. Some executives, such as Chief Technology Officer Ilya Sutskever, were of the opinion that Altman wanted to bring artificial intelligence software to the market too quickly and with too commercial an approach. They had won over the majority of the Board of Directors. In the meantime, Sutskever also switched to the Altman camp and publicly regretted his involvement in his dismissal.
OpenAI was founded in 2015 as a non-profit organization with the mission of developing artificial intelligence in the interest of all. However, when it became clear that it would not be possible to raise the necessary billions in investment through donations, a for-profit company was also formed with Altman at the helm. He brought Microsoft, among others, on board as an investor and thus secured OpenAI access to the necessary computing power. However, the conflict between the two approaches grew ever deeper.
The chatbot ChatGPT can formulate sentences at the linguistic level of a human. Its release around a year ago triggered AI hype. OpenAI thus became a pioneer in the technology. Microsoft entered into a multi-billion euro pact with the company to incorporate its technology into its products. Other tech heavyweights such as Google, Amazon and the Facebook group Meta introduced competing software.
Sam Altman, now back as the head of ChatGPT developer OpenAI, believes in accelerating the deployment of artificial intelligence software with a commercial approach. This stance was a point of contention with some team members, such as Ilya Sutskever, who emphasized the importance of a more cautious and non-profit approach in line with OpenAI's original mission. With Altman's return, there's renewed interest in using the powerful computer resources provided by Microsoft to further advance ChatGPT's capabilities on the Internet.
Source: www.dpa.com
