. . AI: OpenAI CEO timeline and more AI news (11.20.23)

Author

Marshall Kirkpatrick
November 20, 2023

Friends, each day we evaluate what the AI community is talking about, using a weighted measure of community engagement. Unsurprising, it’s mostly Sam Altman and OpenAI. Here are the links, stories, and tweets that are getting the most engagement from AI community members. I’ve put them in a roughly chronological order and by the time you read this, there may be more.

I hope this is a helpful way to quickly make sure you’re up to speed on these developments. I know there are some people who aren’t following this closely through the weekend. Perhaps you know someone who should be aware of this news but might not be on this level of granularity. If so, please forward this to them as a helpful overview.

Thanks for reading,

Marshall Kirkpatrick, Editor

First impacted: AI technology developers, AI technology consumers

According to a write-up by The Atlantic, OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, was unexpectedly let go due to communication issues and internal disagreements about the fast commercialization of the company's product, ChatGPT. Despite this, Altman might return to his previous position. [How ChatGPT Fractured OpenAI] Share by email

First impacted: OpenAI board members, AI community members

Ilya Sutskever, a co-founder of OpenAI, stirred up the AI community with a tweet expressing regret for his actions on the company's board. A key technical product leader, he's widely rumored to be the leader of the board's move to fire CEO Sam Altman on Friday. The community's reaction to his tweet has been varied, with some offering support and others calling for clarity and a reason for his actions. [via @ilyasut ] Share by email

First impacted: OpenAI researchers, Amazon executives

Surprisingly, Sam Altman reportedly won't return as OpenAI's CEO, even though the company's executives tried hard to bring him back. Twitch co-founder Emmett Shear is the temporary CEO after a weekend of tough talks and the sudden exit of key people like President Greg Brockman and three top researchers. [Emmett Shear Becomes Interim OpenAI CEO as Altman Talks Break Down] Share by email

First impacted: Microsoft research team, OpenAI employees

Microsoft has reportedly hired ex-OpenAI chiefs Sam Altman and Greg Brockman to lead a new AI research team, after their sudden departure from OpenAI. Microsoft, which has invested over $10 billion and owns almost 50% of the startup, remains dedicated to the project and has offered jobs to all OpenAI employees. NVIDIA's Jim Fan put it eloquently: "Somehow in this epic meltdown, [Microsoft CEO] Satya swoops in, wins it all, and wins with grace. I'm floored. OpenAI was invincible until Friday. Now Microsoft will fully own an in-house GPT-4 in ~9 months, leverage its massive distribution power to spin the biggest data flywheel ever, collect huge profits, and scale the most powerful intelligence on Azure - while doing all this without any non-profit governance whatsoever." [Microsoft hires ex-OpenAI leaders Altman and Brockman to lead new AI group] Share by email

First impacted: AI engineers, AI researchers

NVIDIA is said to be hiring, focusing on engineers, researchers, and product team members from OpenAI, as per a tweet from Dr. Jim Fan of NVIDIA. The tweet, emphasizing the company's interest in AI agents, gaming, robotics, and open-ended simulations, has attracted a lot of attention on X. Many companies will want to hire OpenAI engineers. [via @DrJimFan ] Share by email

First impacted: Meta employees, AI developers

Meta has reportedly dissolved its Responsible AI (RAI) team, moving its members to other AI-related roles in the company, such as the generative AI product team and AI infrastructure. Despite this, Meta's spokesperson, Jon Carvill, says the company will still focus on safe and responsible AI development, with the ex-RAI team members helping with Meta-wide efforts in this field. [Meta disbanded its Responsible AI team] Share by email

First impacted: Researchers, AI Entrepreneurs

SciSpace has introduced ResearchGPT, an AI research assistant that it says can scan 282 million research articles to give answers supported by citations. It's built on OpenAI's platform for custom made GPTs and it's the first genuinely valuable looking GPT I've seen yet. [ChatGPT - ResearchGPT (official)] Share by email

That’s it! More AI news tomorrow.