Are you ready to increase brand awareness? Consider becoming a sponsor of the AI Impact Tour. Learn more about opportunities here.
In a shocking tornado towards the saga unfolding at OpenAInews broke before 6 a.m. Monday morning that 500 of OpenAI’s 700 employees had asked OpenAI’s remaining board of directors to resign.
In a letter signed by twelve high-ranking employees, including, surprisingly, co-founder Ilya Sutskever, the group said they could resign if board members did not resign immediately. The letter received support from 505 of the company’s 700 employees, journalist Kara Swisher said in a tweet Monday morning, in which she shared a copy of the letter.
In the letter, the group of executives said they listened to the board’s concerns after the decision to fire CEO Sam Altman and attempted to cooperate with board members to bring stabilization, but that the members of the board of directors had not responded with specific facts or any other element. written evidence of his allegations. The group said it realized the board was not capable of carrying out its duties and was negotiating in bad faith.
The group said that within two days of the decision, the board had replaced interim CEO Mira Murati “against the best interests of the company. You also informed the leadership team that allowing the company to be destroyed “would be mission consistent.”
“Your actions have made it clear that you are incapable of overseeing OpenAI,” the letter continues. We are unable to work for or with people who lack skill, judgment, and concern for our mission and our employees.
The group said Microsoft had assured it that there would be positions for all OpenAI employees at the new subsidiary if they chose to join. They said they would resign imminently unless all current board members resign and the board appoints two new principal independent directors, such as Bret Taylor and Will Hurd, and reinstates Sam Altman and Greg Brockman.
What was surprising was that co-founder Sutskever was one of the signatories of the letter. It was widely reported on Friday, including by co-founder Greg Brockman who provided a timeline of events, that Sutskever had led the process of firing Altman. But with that in mind, it could be that Sutskever agreed with the board’s initial decision, given that the majority of the board voted to fire Altman and led the conversation due to his role of director of the company. then changed his mind after the events of the weekend.
VentureBeat’s mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about technology and transformative business transactions. Discover our Briefings.
