OpenAI Staff Threaten to Go to Microsoft If Board Doesn’t Quit
Most of OpenAI's employees have threatened to resign and follow ousted leader Sam Altman to Microsoft Corp. unless the current board resigns, leaving the future of the high-profile artificial intelligence startup increasingly uncertain.
A letter signed by about 600 of the artificial intelligence firm's roughly 770 employees on Monday states that the signatories are “unable to work for or with people that lack competence, judgment and care for our mission and employees.”
After a tumultuous weekend that kicked off with Altman being abruptly fired by the OpenAI board on Friday, Microsoft, which owns almost half of the startup, brought on Altman and fellow OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman to lead a new in-house AI research team.
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“Microsoft has assured us that there are positions for all OpenAI employees at this new subsidiary should we choose to join,” employees wrote in the letter.
The shakeup will reshape the world of artificial intelligence. OpenAI — creator of the hugely popular ChatGPT app that propelled generative AI into the mainstream with Altman as its figurehead — has been at the center of the fast-moving technology. At the heart of this is whether AI should be a commercial opportunity or is a potentially dangerous technology that needs to be checked and scrutinized at every turn.
Altman's ouster from the company he co-founded leaves OpenAI in turmoil. Thrive Capital had been expected to lead an offer for employee shares, a deal that would value OpenAI at $86 billion. As of this weekend, the firm had not yet wired the money and it told OpenAI that Altman's departure would affect its actions.
Some investors were considering writing down the value of their OpenAI holdings to zero,
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