New CEO of OpenAI: Firing Sam Altman is not because of AI safety

“I have nothing but respect for what Sam and the entire OpenAI team have built. This is not only an incredible research project and software product, but also an incredible company.” “, Emmett Shear wrote in his first message after accepting the position of interim CEO of OpenAI, November 20.

Shear also said that before taking the position, he found out the reason behind the ouster of the old CEO. “The board did not remove Sam because of a safety disagreement. Their reasons were completely different from that,” he wrote.

Meanwhile, according to internal memos obtained by the New York Times , OpenAI’s board of directors assessed that “Sam’s behavior and lack of transparency in his interactions undermine the board’s ability to effective oversight of the company in the manner they are authorized to do”. In the official announcement, OpenAI said Altman “was not consistent and straightforward in his communication with the board of directors”,

Previously, information from within OpenAI said that Sam Altman’s sudden dismissal was related to disagreements in development opinions. While Altman continues to accelerate product commercialization and seek to raise money for new AI projects, the management team wants the company to maintain the mission of a non-profit organization, ensuring Ensuring the building of general AI ( AGI ) in a direction that benefits humanity.

However, according to OpenAI’s new CEO, commercialization of the company’s products is necessary and the board of directors also supports this. “I’m not crazy enough to take this job without the board’s support in commercializing the models,” he said.

In the first 30-day plan outlined by this CEO, Emmett Shear said the first thing was to “hire an independent investigator to find out the entire process” leading to the company’s current situation. In addition, two other focuses are “talking to as many of our employees, partners, investors and customers as possible”, and reforming the management and leadership team after having leave, to form an effective force that delivers results for customers.

Then, depending on the results, he will push for organizational changes, including drastic governance changes if necessary, to help the company get back on track.

Emmett Shear is the co-founder of Twitch – a streaming platform acquired by Amazon in 2014. He resigned as CEO of Twitch in February to take care of his newborn child. He was later appointed as an advisor to the startup incubator Y Combinator – the organization that Sam Altman once ran.

“Today, I received a call inviting me to consider a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: becoming the interim CEO of OpenAI. After discussing with my family and reflecting for a few hours, I accepted,” Shear said. .

However, according to Bloomberg , before accepting his new role, Emmett Shear sometimes made “involuntary” statements related to sexuality, even criticizing Microsoft – the largest investor in his new company. is OpenAI. This is a far cry from the polished corporate language used by many Silicon Valley leaders and could become a problem for a company trying to stabilize after days of turmoil.

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