Open AI CEO Sam Altman participates in a discussion entitled “Charting the Path Forward: The Future of Artificial Intelligence” during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit, Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
(NewsNation) — OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, announced Friday that Sam Altman will step down as the company’s chief executive officer.
Chief technology officer Mira Murati will serve as interim CEO, effective immediately, according to the company.
“Mr. Altman’s departure follows a deliberative review process by the board, which concluded that he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities. The board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI,” a statement from the company read in part.
Altman helped start OpenAI as a nonprofit research laboratory in 2015.
But in the past year, he was thrust into the global spotlight as the face of OpenAI after ChatGPT exploded into public consciousness. On a world tour earlier this year, he was mobbed by a crowd of adoring fans at an event in London.
Just Thursday, he took part in a CEO summit at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference in San Francisco, where OpenAI is based.
He predicted AI will prove to be “the greatest leap forward of any of the big technological revolutions we’ve had so far.” But he also acknowledged the need for guardrails to protect humanity from the existential threat posed by the quantum leaps being taken by computers.
“I really think the world is going to rise to the occasion and everybody wants to do the right thing,” Altman said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This is a developing story. Refresh for updates.
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