Majority of OpenAI Employees Consider Resigning If Sam Altman Is Not Reinstated as CEO

The OpenAI Saga Unfolds

This morning, Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI's chief scientist and board director, issued a heartfelt apology on X (formerly Twitter). Sutskever was instrumental in the shocking decision to remove Sam Altman, the former president of Y Combinator, from his CEO position at OpenAI, and to demote Greg Brockman, the company’s president, from his role as board chairman. He stated:

“I deeply regret my participation in the board's actions. I never intended to harm OpenAI. I love everything we've built together and I will do everything I can to reunite the company.”

— Ilya Sutskever (@ilyasut) November 20, 2023

What prompted this reversal? A couple of key factors stand out:

Nearly 500 of OpenAI's approximately 770 employees—significantly, including Sutskever himself—have signed a letter indicating they might resign unless the board steps down and reinstates Altman. By the end of Monday, that number had surged to over 650. The letter voiced their concerns: “The process through which [the board] terminated Altman and removed Brockman from the board has jeopardized all of this work and undermined our mission and company. Your conduct has made it clear you didn’t have the competence to oversee OpenAI.”

In a swift career move, Altman joined Microsoft to lead a research lab alongside Brockman. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella expressed that they would “set a new pace for innovation,” suggesting that other OpenAI employees could also join with the resources needed for success. Altman cryptically affirmed on X, “the mission continues” and indicated their intent to create something phenomenal.

“We are going to build something new & it will be incredible. Initial leadership (more details to follow): @merettm @sidorszymon @aleks_madry @sama @gdb. The mission continues.”

— Greg Brockman (@gdb) November 20, 2023

Sutskever finds himself in a challenging position. Investors are not satisfied with the weekend's chaos, jeopardizing OpenAI's funding; Microsoft, once a collaborator, is now becoming a competitor; and OpenAI employees are leaving in protest.

The responsibility falls squarely on Sutskever's shoulders. Just days earlier, on Sunday, he and the board defended their decision, claiming it was necessary to advance OpenAI's mission and criticized “Sam’s behavior and lack of transparency.” Instead of reconciling with Altman, who had reportedly requested a restructuring of the board for his return, the board appointed Emmett Shear, former Twitch co-founder, as interim CEO.

Reports indicate the friction leading to Altman’s termination stemmed from disagreements between him and Sutskever concerning the pace of AI commercialization and safety measures. Sutskever was reportedly “infuriated” by various announcements made during OpenAI's inaugural developer conference, DevDay, particularly regarding the introduction of custom GPTs anticipated to run autonomously in the future.

During a company-wide meeting on Friday, Sutskever stated that removing Altman was “necessary” to uphold OpenAI's mission of ensuring that AI remains beneficial to humanity. However, neither he nor the board has specified a concrete rationale for Altman's dismissal.

The board announced Altman's firing without prior notice to investors or employees on Friday afternoon. That evening, Altman began pitching a new AI startup to investors, signaling his transition to Microsoft alongside Brockman.