OpenAI Scientist Who Ousted Sam Altman Quits A Day After GPT-4o Launch

Ilya Sutskever, the chief scientist and co-founder at OpenAI, will be leaving the artificial intelligence after months of speculation about his future role in the company. Sutskever played a key role in the ouster of OpenAI chief Sam Altman last year in November 2022. This development comes just a day after OpenAI unveiled its GPT-4o model.

Who Replaces Sutskever at OpenAI?

Sutskever joined OpenAI during the AI startup’s founding days back in 2015, after getting recruited by Elon Musk. During his decade-long tenure at OpenAI, he served as the research director since he was popular for his research work at the University of Toronto in addition to his work at the Google Brain lab.

In a recent post on X, Sutskever expressed admiration for OpenAI’s trajectory, deeming it “miraculous.” He conveyed confidence in the company’s ability to develop AI that is both safe and beneficial under its current leadership.

After almost a decade, I have made the decision to leave OpenAI.  The company’s trajectory has been nothing short of miraculous, and I’m confident that OpenAI will build AGI that is both safe and beneficial under the leadership of @sama, @gdb, @miramurati and now, under the…

— Ilya Sutskever (@ilyasut) May 14, 2024

In November 2023, Sutskever joined several OpenAI members in a move to oust CEO Sam Altman. Back then, he said that Altman’s vision of OpenAI didn’t align with safe AI development. However, this move didn’t go well as nearly 770 employees threatened to leave the firm unless Altman was reinstated. Just a week later, and after all the drama that ensued, the company reinstated Sam Altman at the helm of affairs at OpenAI.

Amidst the chaos, Sutskever expressed regret over his involvement in Altman’s removal. OpenAI announced on its blog Tuesday that Sutskever will be succeeded by Research Director Jakub Pachocki. The news Research Director has been working at OpenAI since 2017 and was instrumental in the development of the GPT-4 model.

However, other people from Sutskever’s camp have joined him in the recent move. ML Researcher at OpenAI, Jane Leiki announced his resignation an hour back.

I resigned

— Jan Leike (@janleike) May 15, 2024

Removing Sutskever from the Board

After Altman’s return to the company in late November, he stated in a blog post that Sutskever wouldn’t resume his former position as a board member but that discussions were ongoing regarding his continued involvement at OpenAI.

In the months following, Sutskever largely retreated from the public eye, leading to speculation about his ongoing role with the company. Sutskever’s recent post on X marks his first public communication since reposting a message from OpenAI in December.

On X, Sutskever revealed that he is currently engaged in an unnamed project that holds significant personal significance for him.