ChatGPT has completed 1 year of existence and it has been surely a roller coaster, filled with technological advancements, unexpected challenges and some boardroom drama. Sam Altman returned to lead OpenAI as CEO after he was ousted about 10 days ago.
OpenAI also got a new initial board, Mira Murati will continue as CTO, and Greg Brockman to return as President. Bret Taylor (Chair), Larry Summers, and Adam D'Angelo are also part of the initial board.
Soon after his return, Mr Altman sent a message to company employees. In a blog post, he thanked his fellow OpenAI employees and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella for having their backs and to "welcome all of us if we couldn't achieve our primary goal."
He also shared that Microsoft will be included in the new board as a non-voting observer.
"I have never been more excited about the future. I am extremely grateful for everyone's hard work in an unclear and unprecedented situation, and I believe our resilience and spirit set us apart in the industry. I feel so, so good about our probability of success for achieving our mission," Mr Altman wrote.
"I love and respect Ilya, I think he's a guiding light of the field and a gem of a human being. I harbour zero ill will towards him. While Ilya will no longer serve on the board, we hope to continue our working relationship. We are discussing how he can continue his work at OpenAI," Mr Atlam referred to AI scientist Ilya Sutskever.
He went on to appreciate other employees, "I am grateful to Adam, Tasha, and Helen for working with us to come to this solution that best serves the mission. I'm excited to continue to work with Adam and am sincerely thankful to Helen and Tasha for investing a huge amount of effort in this process."
"To all of you, our team: I am sure books are going to be written about this time period, and I hope the first thing they say is how amazing the entire team has been. Now that we're through all of this, we haven't lost a single employee. You stood firm for each other, this company, and our mission. One of the most important things for the team that builds AGI safely is the ability to handle stressful and uncertain situations and maintain good judgment throughout. Top marks. Thank you all," Mr Atlman wrote in his blog post.
Altman, who was fired by OpenAI's board earlier following disagreements on how fast to develop and monetise artificial intelligence, had been in negotiations with the company to return. Those talks reached an impasse on Sunday in part over pressure from Altman and others for existing board members to resign. Instead, the board named a new leader — former Twitch CEO Emmett Shear — and OpenAI's biggest backer, Microsoft, said it would hire Altman to head up a new in-house AI team.
