SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 20 (Portal) – OpenAI has named former Twitch boss Emmett Shear to lead the startup, replacing Sam Altman, who will join top backer Microsoft (MSFT.O) to launch a new advanced AI research team, the CEO said late Sunday.
“We look forward to meeting and working with Emmett Shear and OAI’s new leadership team,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella wrote on social media platform X. He added that Microsoft continues to work on its partnership with OpenAI holds on.
Shear has been named interim CEO, a person with knowledge of the appointment told Portal.
The decision not to reinstate Altman as CEO of the company behind ChatGPT has derailed efforts by the company’s investors and employees to steady the ship by bringing him back after the board fired him on Friday – a surprise move that rocked the technology world.
They fear his sudden firing could lead to a mass exodus of talent and impact an upcoming $86 billion stock sale.
Nadella said Altman will join Microsoft to “lead a new advanced AI research team.”
Portal previously reported that Altman discussed a possible return to OpenAI and a change to the company’s governance structure, although he was considering starting a new AI company.
Altman and Greg Brockman, who resigned as OpenAI’s chief executives as part of the management change, joined executives at the company’s headquarters on Sunday after then-interim CEO Mira Murati told employees that she had invited Altman, according to The Information previously reported on Sunday.
Nadella said Brockman will also join the software company.
[1/4]Twitch CEO Emmett Shear speaks in a still from a video interview with Portal in San Francisco, US, broadcast in May 2018. Portal TV via Portal/File Photo Purchase license rights
Altman posted on Sunday in a separate post on X, repeating Nadella’s message with the comment “The mission continues.”
Shear co-founded Twitch and resigned from Amazon.com’s live video streaming platform earlier this year.
Brockman resigned Friday because of Altman’s firing. Their departures surprised many employees, who learned of the abrupt management change from an internal message and the company’s public blog.
Some researchers, including Szymon Sidor, also left the company after the CEO change, two people familiar with the matter said. Sidor confirmed his resignation.
The Information first reported Shear’s appointment as interim CEO.
Shortly after the internal announcement of Shear’s appointment, distraught employees “streamed out” of OpenAI’s headquarters in San Francisco, The Information reported.
Dozens of employees announced internally on Sunday evening that they would be leaving the company, it said, citing a person familiar with the situation.
OpenAI sparked the hype around generative AI a year ago with the release of ChatGPT. The chatbot became one of the fastest growing software applications in the world.
Reporting by Urvi Dugar and Shubham Kalia in Bengaluru and Stephanie Kelly in New York. Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee, Miyoung Kim and Sam Holmes
Our standards: The Trust Principles.
Acquire license rights, opens new tab