On November 17th, OpenAI’s board abruptly announced that co-founder and CEO Sam Altman was out, effective immediately. Without saying it directly, the board revealed Altman was fired after a review “concluded that he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities.”
What caused the board to lose confidence in his ability to lead OpenAI is unknown. In the preceding days, everyone had continued acting as though everything was normal, with insiders at OpenAI and partners like Microsoft surprised to learn of Altman’s ouster only moments before it was announced.
Within hours, fellow co-founder and former chair Greg Brockman announced that “based on today’s news, I quit.” OpenAI’s chief technology officer, Mira Murati, has been appointed interim CEO for now.