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“OpenAI is worthless without its employees.” This was the message that dozens of employees repeated on social media in November last year, as part of a campaign to exert significant pressure on the board of directors, which fired the then CEO, Sam Altman, in an attempt to convince them. To change their opinion and return him to his position.
These phrases were repeated a few days ago, after Mira Moratti, chief technology officer at OpenAI, announced her departure from her position, along with two other senior employees: Bob McGraw, chief research officer, and Barrett Zoff, vice president of research.
Moratti’s decision shocked employees, as it indicates a major transformation in the company that was founded 9 years ago, and has moved from being a mere research institution in the field of artificial intelligence to a giant commercial company. Altman was not notified of Moratti’s decision until the morning, hours before the letter was sent to all company employees.
Altman said through his account on the “X” website, saying: “I will not pretend that it is normal for this to happen, and in this sudden manner.” Therefore, Moratti’s departure reveals that the company has not yet recovered from the problems resulting from the failed coup attempt in the fall of last year. Altman has surrounded himself with allies in the months since the heated battle with the board, as the fast-growing startup presses ahead with plans to restructure itself as a for-profit company.
Reports recently surfaced that Altman discussed with the board of directors the issue of purchasing a stake in the company, at a time when OpenAI, which is based in San Francisco, is seeking to raise more than $6 billion in financing based on its valuation of $150 billion.
These discussions come after Altman, who is already a billionaire thanks to his previous projects and investments in the field of technology, explained that he chose not to acquire a stake in “OpenAI” to remain neutral within the company. This account of Altman’s consolidation of his power within OpenAI, as well as his loyalties, is based on interviews with seven former and current employees of the company, as well as consultants and executives closely connected to its leadership.
They reported that OpenAI intends to rely on existing technical skills and new appointments to assume the responsibilities previously held by Moratti and use her departure to “simplify” the corporate hierarchy. Altman will assume a greater technical role in a company seeking to maintain its leadership in the face of Google and other competitors.
Despite the dramatic chapters it has gone through, “OpenAI” is still a leading player in the field of artificial intelligence. The startup company unveiled the “o1” model early last month, and indicated that it has the ability to think logically, a feature that its competitors seek. Meta” and “anthropic” to have.
With Moratti’s departure, Altman decided to promote Mark Chen to lead the research team jointly with Jakub Paczucki, who took over from Ilya Sutskever, and became chief scientist last May.
In an interview with the Financial Times last month, Mira Moratti introduced Mark Chen as the primary person responsible for the O1 project, noting that the ability of artificial intelligence systems to think logically would “improve the products we offer and will help improve all of our programs.” .
The coming days may witness more changes, with Altman cutting short his trip to Europe to return to the company’s headquarters in San Francisco. Among the remaining OpenAI executives are Brad Lightcap, the chief operating officer who leads commercial deals, and Jason Kwon, the chief strategy officer, both longtime Altman ally who worked under him at startup incubator Y.
Last June, Altman appointed Kevin Weil as chief product officer, who had previously worked at Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. He also appointed Sarah Friar as chief financial officer, who was the former CEO of the Next Door social network. They both come from a background in consumer technology companies focused on products and user growth, not science or engineering.
Weil and Fryar’s jobs are new to OpenAI, but familiar among startups operating in Silicon Valley, a move that signals the company is becoming a more traditional technology group focused on building products that attract consumers and generate revenue.
An OpenAI spokesperson said: “We have evolved from a research laboratory into a global company providing advanced artificial intelligence research to hundreds of millions around the world, but we remain committed to our mission, and we are proud to launch the most capable and secure models in the industry. To help people solve difficult problems.”
Sarah Friar sought to stimulate morale, as she told employees that the $6 billion financing round, expected to end within days, had witnessed an oversubscription, pointing out that the high value was a testament to hard work.
Chris Lehane, former aide to former US President Bill Clinton and vice president of Airbnb, is among the most prominent recent appointees. He worked for Altman as an advisor during the coup and joined the company early this year. Lehane recently assumed the position of Vice President of Global Relations, succeeding Anna McCanhoe, OpenAI’s first chief communications officer, who currently holds the newly created position of Vice President of Global Impact.
It is worth noting that when “OpenAI” was founded in 2015 by Elon Musk and nine others, it was a non-profit company, then it turned into a limited profitable entity in 2019. But now, as it seeks to complete its last financing rounds of several… Billions of dollars, OpenAI is reconsidering its structure in order to attract investors and generate greater returns.
Two of the founders, Altman and Wojciech Zaremba, remain with the company, while the president, Greg Brockman, is on leave until the end of the year.
There is a desire to work on general artificial intelligence among many OpenAI employees, and to achieve this goal before other competitors such as “Meta” or “XAI”, which is affiliated with Elon Musk. These employees believe in the Sam Altman Creed and believe that this belief will drive them toward progress. However, many employees expressed concern about achieving this goal, citing prioritization of product innovation over safety.
When he left the company last March, the closest OpenAI had come to planning how to ensure the safety of generative AI was the final appendix to a December paper co-authored by Jan Leike, said Daniel Cocotaylo, a former AI governance researcher. , safety researcher, with Ilya Sutskever.
He added: “You might think that a company with more than a thousand people working on this is a comprehensive written plan on how to ensure the safety of artificial general intelligence, and it is supposed to be published, so that it is subject to criticism and review.” He continued: “OpenAI knows that such details will not stand up to scrutiny, but this is the acceptable minimum for an organization that builds the most powerful and most dangerous technologies ever.”
OpenAI pointed to its general preparedness framework as evidence of its transparency and planning, noting that technology would bring many positive aspects.
“OpenAI continues to invest generously in safety research, security measures, and collaboration with third parties, and will continue to supervise and evaluate their efforts,” said Zico Coulter and Paul Nakasone, members of the Board of Directors’ Independent Safety and Security Oversight Committee.
