At ChatGPT developer OpenAI, company boss Sam Altman got his previous power back almost four months after his brief expulsion.
Altman was reappointed to OpenAI’s board of directors on Friday (local time), which determines the strategy of the artificial intelligence software developer. He was unexpectedly fired by members of the previous board of directors in November – but returned to the top management of the company a few days later after protests from employees. An investigation that has now been completed found that there were no compelling reasons to fire Altman.
ChatGPT is the AI chatbot that triggered the hype about artificial intelligence a year ago with expectations ranging from a digital land of milk and honey for everyone to the fear of humanity being wiped out. Accordingly, OpenAI became one of the most important start-ups in the world – and Altman became the face of the new AI movement. For that reason alone, his sudden expulsion caused quite a stir.
Board members removed Altman in mid-November, saying they had lost trust because he had not been honest in his communications with the board. There were no details about this in the announcement at the conclusion of the investigation.
However, OpenAI clarified that the decision was not triggered by concerns about the security of the AI software, the pace of development or the financial situation. After Altman’s firing, there was speculation that the board was concerned that under his leadership, AI software was being developed and commercialized too quickly without regard to safety concerns. The investigation attributed the firing solely to a loss of trust between Altman and the board members.
Three additional new members of the Board of Directors were also announced on Friday. They include the former head of Bill and Melinda Gates’ charitable foundation, Sue Desmond-Hellmann, and the boss of the delivery app Instacart, Fidji Simo, who was responsible for the Facebook app in her previous job. The third new addition is former Sony general counsel Nicole Seligman. Since the Altman controversy, the board has been led by software entrepreneur Bret Taylor, who was once chairman of the Twitter board of directors when the company was taken over Elon Musk was.
SAN FRANCISCO (dpa-AFX)
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