OpenAI’s Sam Altman denies executive departures due to restructuring
Sam Altman denied Thursday that there was any connection between the departures of three senior OpenAI executives and a planned restructuring of the company, which he said the board had been considering for several months.
Mira Murati, former Chief Technology Officer of the leading AI company, abruptly announced her departure on Wednesday. Within hours, two senior research leaders, Barret Zoph and Bob Mcgrew, announced that they too were leaving the company.
On the same day, Reuters reported that OpenAI was working on a plan to restructure its core business into a for-profit company that will no longer be controlled by the nonprofit board, with the aim of making the company more attractive to investors. .
Speaking at the Italian Tech Week conference in Turin, OpenAI CEO Altman said “some things” reported around the executives’ departures were inaccurate, adding that the personnel changes were not related to the restructuring.
“That is completely untrue,” he told event organizer John Elkann, the chairman of car companies Ferrari and Stellantis.
“A lot of the things I saw were also just completely wrong, but we have been thinking about that (restructuring), our board has been doing that independently for almost a year as we think about what it will take to move to our next phase. “
Altman praised the departing executives, adding that he was excited to simplify the company structure and work more closely with technical staff.
“I haven’t been as involved with the technology as other things lately because there’s so much going on, I’m excited to do that,” he said.
“This will hopefully be a great transition for everyone involved, and OpenAI will be stronger for it, as we are in all our transitions.”
Details of the proposed restructuring highlight important behind-the-scenes changes at one of the world’s top AI companies.
Sources told Reuters that at the time of writing the plans were still being negotiated between lawyers and shareholders, and the timeline for completion remains uncertain.
© Thomson Reuters 2024
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