In a series of unexpected events, Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, was abruptly dismissed from his position, causing a significant uproar within the company. The dismissal occurred during a Google Meet call, with no explicit reasons provided for the decision. The board of OpenAI, which governs the company's for-profit business arm, was responsible for the decision. Altman's dismissal led to a crisis within OpenAI, with over 95% of staff signing an open letter demanding his return, including the interim CEO and a board member who were instrumental in his firing.
In the midst of this controversy, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff extended an offer to OpenAI researchers who had tendered their resignation, inviting them to join Salesforce's Einstein AI research team. Benioff offered to match the cash and equity of these researchers, a move that came amid a broader controversy over the control of OpenAI. Approximately 700 of its 770 employees threatened to join Microsoft if the OpenAI board did not resign.
In a surprising turn of events, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced that Altman, along with OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman and other managers from the AI company, would join Microsoft to lead a new advanced AI research team. This announcement came just days after Altman's dismissal from OpenAI. However, Altman was later reinstated at OpenAI, adding another twist to the unfolding drama.
These events have led to speculation about the future direction of AI, with some suggesting that the focus may be shifting more towards profit rather than altruism. This speculation is fueled by the fact that Altman and Elon Musk originally set out to create OpenAI in 2015 as a nonprofit aimed at achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI) in a way that would benefit humanity, not just to make profit for corporations.