OpenAI’s board pushes out Sam Altman, its high-profile CEO

OpenAI’s high-profile CEO Sam Altman, who became the face of the tech industry’s AI boom, has been ousted from the company by its board of directors, OpenAI said in a blog post on Friday afternoon.

Mira Murati, who previously served as the company’s chief technology officer, has been named interim chief executive officer, the company said.

“Mr. Altman’s departure follows a deliberate review process by the Board, which revealed that he was not consistently forthcoming in his communications with the Board, which hampered the Board’s ability to discharge its responsibilities,” the company said. “The board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue to lead OpenAI.”

Greg Brockman, who helped found OpenAI with Mr. Altman, will step down as chairman of the board but will remain in his role at the company and report to the CEO, the company said.

OpenAI, a startup based in San Francisco, launched an industry-wide AI frenzy late last year when it released the online chatbot ChatGPT. The chatbot attracted hundreds of millions of users and amazed people with the way it answered questions, wrote poetry and discussed virtually any topic that came its way.

This is a development story. Check back for updates.