OpenAI (ChatGPT) Co-Founder & President Resign As Board Fires Sam Altman

The rift between the board members of OpenAI seems to be spreading very quickly after the company announced the ouster of Sam Altman citing a lack of confidence. Moments later, OpenAI co-founder and president Greg Brockman announced his departure from the company.

Greg Brockman Quits OpenAI

In his post on the social media platform X, Greg Brockman wrote: “I’m super proud of what we’ve all built together since starting in my apartment 8 years ago. We’ve been through tough & great times together, accomplishing so much despite all the reasons it should have been impossible. But based on today’s news, I quit.”

He further added that he continues to believe in the mission of creating safe (artificial general intelligence) that benefits all of humanity.

As part of the recently announced changes, Brockman was set to resign from his position as board chairman while remaining with the company, taking on a reporting role under the new CEO.

The question is as Sam Altman steps down from his position, would it lead to a major talent pool leaving the company going ahead? Interestingly, with Altman leaving the OpenAI board, the ripple effects have already spread across his other projects such as Worldcoin. WLD, the native cryptocurrency of digital identity projects Worldcoin, has dropped 12% in the last few hours.

Debate Sparks Between Altman and Board Members

OpenAI’s decision to part ways with Sam Altman stemmed from significant disagreements between the CEO and the board, particularly with Ilya Sutskever, a co-founder and the chief scientist. The disagreements centered around AI safety, the pace of technology development, and the company’s commercialization.

These disputes mirror longstanding issues within OpenAI regarding responsible AI development, a topic that has troubled the organization since its establishment. This is reminiscent of previous conflicts that led Elon Musk to sever ties with OpenAI in 2018 and prompted some employees to leave in 2020 to start rival Anthropic.

Recently, Sutskever formed a team to address the control of future “super intelligent” AI systems. A month before Altman’s departure, Sutskever’s responsibilities were reduced due to tensions with Altman and Greg Brockman, the company’s president, although he later garnered support from some board members after appealing his case.