OpenAI staff threaten to quit en masse unless Sam Altman is reinstated

[mysteryowl]

Source: Guardian/US

More than 600 employees demand resignation of board after shock firing of chief executive.
Chaos has engulfed the company behind ChatGPT after hundreds of OpenAI staff members threatened to quit en masse unless the board overseeing the business reinstates its ousted chief executive Sam Altman and steps down.

In an open letter, more than 600 of OpenAI’s 700 employees demanded the resignation of the board and said they may walk out if Altman is not brought back.

Altman was fired on Friday in a move that shocked Silicon Valley, riled the company’s employees and put rival tech companies on alert for a talent exodus.

Monday’s letter to OpenAI’s four remaining board directors said: “Your actions have made it obvious that you are incapable of overseeing OpenAI. We are unable to work for or with people that lack competence, judgment and care for our mission and employees.” The board’s members have yet to comment publicly.

The letter added that the signatories could join Altman and OpenAI’s former president Greg Brockman at Microsoft after the US tech company announced on Monday it had hired the duo to head a new AI research unit. Microsoft is OpenAI’s biggest shareholder.

“We, the undersigned, may choose to resign from OpenAI and join the newly announced Microsoft subsidiary run by Sam Altman and Greg Brockman,” the employees wrote. “We will take this step imminently, unless all current board members resign … and [reinstate] Sam Altman and Greg Brockman.” The letter was first reported by the tech magazine Wired and the journalist Kara Swisher.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/nov/20/openai-staff-walkout-sam-altman-board

[Calista241]

1. Each one of these people is going to be offered 7 figure salary and equity positions by tech companies..

to bring their AI and LLM knowledge to new companies. So I don't feel particular bad for them or overly support their collective action.

[getagrip_already]

2. Microsoft already offered them all employment under altman.....

OpenAI is digging its heels in. Hard to do when you won't have a floor to put those heels on in a few days.

Ilya fucked around and now he's finding out. He is so scared he actually signed the letter threatening to quit if the board didn't resign and bring altman back.

Which is really funny since he is on the board and not only voted to fire the two, he orchestrated it.

Even funnier, he hasn't resigned from the board yet.

What a piece of crap.

[highplainsdem]

4. As for Altman:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100218467789

[The Mouth]

3. My immediate sympathies are always going to be with the person who was fired

unless there is utterly unambiguous proof that they deserved/

Most corporate boards deserve flaying.

[highplainsdem]

5. See reply 4.

[ancianita]

6. Even if only half of them leave, that could literally pause ChatGPT4, its most powerful AI.

[honest.abe]

7. I dont quite understand what's going on here. What did the board fire him in the first place?

[Eugene]

8. Philosophical power struggle over whether AI is advancing too far and too fast.

OpenAI started out as a non-profit. Altman brought in
billions of investor cash and an "accelerationist" mindset.
The release of CustomGPT, was a bridge to far
for the more cautious directors on the board,
who felt that AI needs to be reined in (decels).

Additionally, the board is packed with Effective Altruists,
bound to the non-profit ideal, not the investors.