Techmeme
November 18, 2023, 4:30 AM

Top News

OpenAI:
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman departs the company and leaves its board after a board review found he wasn't “consistently candid in his communications with the board”  —  The board of directors of OpenAI, Inc, the 501(c)(3) that acts as the overall governing body for all OpenAI activities …
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LinkedIn: Aki Ranin and Kelvin Mu
Greg Brockman / @gdb:
Greg Brockman describes Ilya Sutskever's role in Sam Altman's firing and Brockman's removal from the OpenAI board, as well as Mira Murati's foreknowledge  —  Sam and I are shocked and saddened by what the board did today. Let us first say thank you to all the incredible people who we have worked with at OpenAI, our customers, our investors, and all of those who have been reaching out. We too are still trying to figure out exactly...
Jay Peters / The Verge:
OpenAI co-founder and President Greg Brockman says he has quit the company “based on today's news”  —  Sam Altman isn't the only major OpenAI executive leaving the company on Friday.  Hours after Altman was fired, with the board saying it “no longer has confidence in his ability …
Jay Peters / The Verge:
OpenAI CTO Mira Murati becomes the company's interim CEO  —  “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," the company said in its blog post.
Jon Victor / The Information:
Sources: three senior OpenAI researchers resign, including Director of Research Jakub Pachocki, and Head of Preparedness Aleksander Madry  —  Three senior researchers at OpenAI resigned Friday night as the artificial intelligence developer suffered fallout from the firing of CEO Sam Altman …
Forbes:
A look at OpenAI's unusual independent board of directors, which includes Quora CEO Adam D'Angelo, entrepreneur Tasha McCauley, and Georgetown's Helen Toner  —  AI giant OpenAI had an unusual board of directors for its controlling nonprofit.  Here's who made the shocking decision to oust its cofounder and CEO.
Kara Swisher / @karaswisher:
Sources: Sam Altman's exit followed a “misalignment” between OpenAI's profit and nonprofit sides, given the company's development speed could be viewed as risky  —  Scoop: There are about to be a lot more major departures of top folks at @OpenAI tonight and I assume Altman will make a statement tonight. But, as I understand it, it was a “misalignment” of the profit versus nonprofit adherents at the company. The developer day was an issue.
Semafor:
Source: Sam Altman was in the middle of raising money for a new VC fund focusing on hard tech when OpenAI fired him  —  Sam Altman was in the middle of raising money for a new venture capital fund focusing on hard tech when he stepped down as CEO of OpenAI, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Ina Fried / Axios:
Source: Microsoft learned that OpenAI was ousting CEO Sam Altman just a minute before the news was published  —  Microsoft, which has invested billions in OpenAI, learned that OpenAI was ousting CEO Sam Altman just a minute before the news was shared with the world, according to a person familiar with the situation.
The Official Microsoft Blog:
Satya Nadella says Microsoft has a “long-term agreement with OpenAI with full access to everything” it needs and remains “committed” to their partnership  —  As you saw at Microsoft Ignite this week, we're continuing to rapidly innovate for this era of AI …
Forbes:
Jonathan Vanian / CNBC:
Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount Global, Lionsgate, and Comcast suspend ads on X, joining other media and tech companies  —  - Apple has paused its online advertising campaigns on X, formerly Twitter, after owner Elon Musk made antisemitic comments on the platform.
Ina Fried / Axios:
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