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[N] OpenAI Announces Leadership Transition, Fires Sam Altman (alien.top)

submitted 1 year ago by Sm0oth_kriminal@alien.top to c/machinelearning@academy.garden

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Source: https://openai.com/blog/openai-announces-leadership-transition

Today, it was announced that Sam Altman will no longer be CEO or affiliated with OpenAI due to a lack of “candidness” with the board. This is extremely unexpected as Sam Altman is arguably the most recognizable face of state of the art AI (of course, wouldn’t be possible without great team at OpenAI). Lots of speculation is in the air, but there clearly must have been some good reason to make such a drastic decision.

This may or may not materially affect ML research, but it is plausible that the lack of “candidness” is related to copyright data, or usage of data sources that could land OpenAI in hot water with regulatory scrutiny. Recent lawsuits (https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/writers-suing-openai-fire-back-companys-copyright-defense-2023-09-28/) have raised questions about both the morality and legality of how OpenAI and other research groups train LLMs.

Of course we may never know the true reasons behind this action, but what does this mean for the future of AI?

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[–] LtCmdrData@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Mr. 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.

Normally the board would fire the CEO for dishonesty with just "lost confidence". It would not cause reputational damage, and it would not be legally consequential.

Board must think it's legally important to fire CEO with language that might indicate that Altman has violated his fiduciary duty and they were not aware. Potentially serious reputational or financial damage that Altman should take with him.

[–] toomuchtodotoday@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

https://www.axios.com/2023/11/18/openai-memo-altman-firing-malfeasance-communications-breakdown

Sam Altman's firing as OpenAI CEO was not the result of "malfeasance or anything related to our financial, business, safety, or security/privacy practices" but rather a "breakdown in communications between Sam Altman and the board," per an internal memo from chief operating officer Brad Lightcap seen by Axios.

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