Sam Altman is back at OpenAI. So why was he fired in the first place?
Sam Altman is officially returning to OpenAI has CEO. His position has been significantly strengthened, which is why the public deserves to know why he was dismissed.
In act one of the inevitable dramatisation of the week OpenAI is having, the board unceremoniously fires Sam Altman. The second act begins with the board immediately commencing negotiations to bring him back, only for Altman to announce he's heading a new AI division with Microsoft. After that false conclusion, the credits roll as Altman, as happened on Wednesday, accepts an offer to return to the CEO chair he vacated just four days earlier.
But the script has one major flaw. We still don't know why Sam Altman was fired.
Shortly after Altman was dumped on Saturday (Australian time), reports emerged about a split between staff and leadership at OpenAI. On one side were those, including board members Helen Toner and Ilya Sutskever, concerned about AI safety. They were striving to live up to the principles set out by OpenAI's founders when the company was still a nonprofit. Safe and ethical AI development was the guiding principle.
The other side, led by Altman, was reportedly eager to commercialise the artificial intelligence models the company had spent billions building. That led to the company's first DevDay, a presentation that resembled an iPhone launch more than anything to do with safe AI, on November 6. Among the products unveiled was Laundry Buddy, a chatbot to help keep your clothing in good knick.
