On November 17, 2023, the world was stunned by the unexpected dismissal of Sam Altman, CEO and co-founder of OpenAI. He had been the public face of one of the most important technological events in recent history, thanks to the release and popularization of ChatGPT. However, none of this prevented him from being briefly expelled from his own company. What exactly happened?
Now, this question finally finds an answer from Helen Toner, former board member of OpenAI. In an interview on the podcast The TED AI Show, she has talked about what happened back then and what happened for the board to stop trusting Altman’s figure.
According to what we can read on The Verge, Toner explains that one of the reasons that caused the board’s mistrust towards Altman was his lack of transparency. On multiple occasions, Altman provided inaccurate information about the company’s security, in addition to not informing the board that he was the owner of the OpenAI Startup Fund.
Toner also claims that Altman personally attacked her after she published a research article that he didn’t like. According to Toner, “Sam started lying to other board members to try to get rid of me.”
Toner has pointed out the large number of layoffs that Altman has accumulated (the CEO had worked at companies like Y Combinator or Loopt). In all of them, the reasons behind these layoffs seem to be his lack of clarity, combined with his “deceptive and chaotic behavior”.
OpenAI has responded to these statements in writing through Bret Taylor, the current chairman of the board. In the statement, they express their disappointment regarding Toner “continuing to bring up these issues”. The company also mentions that over 95% of employees, including executives, requested the reinstatement of Altman as CEO of OpenAI.
