DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

"i'm looking forward to returning to openai," Altman said in a post on the X social media platform late on Tuesday. Sam Altman attends the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit in San Francisco, California, U.S. November 16, 2023. OpenAI's previous board consisted of Tasha McCauley, Helen Toner and OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever and Quora CEO D'Angelo, who is part of the revamped board. In a post on X on Tuesday, Shear said he worked "~72 very intense hours" to bring stability - and ultimately Altman - back to OpenAI. When he was out of a job, CEO Nadella said Altman could head a new research team alongside Brockman and other colleagues departing from OpenAI.

Persons: Bret Taylor, Brockman, FRANCISCO, Sam Altman, OpenAI, Larry Summers, Adam D'Angelo, D'Angelo, Altman, Danni Hewson, AJ Bell's, Satya Nadella, Kyle Rodda, Carlos Barria, Tasha McCauley, Helen Toner, Ilya Sutskever, Steve Jobs, Greg Brockman, Sunday Altman, Emmett Shear, Shear, Nadella, Jeffrey Dastin, Aditya Soni, Shivani Tanna, Bansari, Dhanya Ann Thoppil, Nivedita Bhattacharjee, Sam Holmes, Jane Merriman Organizations: U.S . Treasury, Microsoft, Economic Cooperation, REUTERS, Reuters, U.S, Thomson Locations: openai, U.S, OpenAI, Asia, San Francisco , California, Valley, San Francisco, Bengaluru

☆ VCs didn't care about OpenAI's weird board structure. It was all about investing in Sam Altman and its 'transformative' tech.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-22 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | Vishal Persaud | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

OpenAI's venture capital investors weren't thinking about its mission to serve "humanity" by developing artificial intelligence. After Altman's ouster, Vinod Khosla, an early investor in OpenAI, came to his defense despite the criticism. OpenAI's complex and unique corporate governance structure meant that VCs could invest in the capped profit entity, but never earn any influence over the nonprofit board of directors, all of whom were either cofounders or appointed outside AI experts. The board structure and its governance are all likely to change as part of the deal to bring Sam Altman back as CEO of OpenAI. The purpose of the newly formed OpenAI board – consisting of current board member D'Angelo, former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, and former Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor – is to vet and potentially appoint an expanded board of up to nine people, and that Microsoft and Altman want board seats, The Verge reported.

Persons: Sam Altman, OpenAI, Altman, VCs, Sam, Altman's, Vinod Khosla, Yunus, Khosla, Wesley Chan, Greg Brockman, Ilya Sutskever, Tasha McCauley, who's, Joseph Gordon, Levitt, Helen Toner, Adam D'Angelo, Karthee Madasamy, it's, David Sacks, D'Angelo, Larry Summers, Bret Taylor – Organizations: Business, Tiger Global Management, Khosla Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Microsoft, FPV Ventures, Rand Corporation, Georgetown's Center for Security, Emerging Technology, MFV Partners, Qualcomm Ventures, Ikea, Bosch, Novo Nordisk Foundation, Bertelsmann Foundation, Carlsberg Foundation, Craft Ventures Locations: OpenAI, Silicon Valley, Hollywood

☆ OpenAI board, Altman in talks for return of former CEO - Bloomberg News
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit in San Francisco, California, U.S. November 16, 2023. Talks are happening between Altman and at least one board member, Quora CEO Adam D'Angelo, the report said. Altman could return as a director on a transitional board and the talks also involve some investors of the artificial intelligence startup. But things appeared fluid, as Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told media on Monday "irrespective of where Sam is, he's working with Microsoft" and that governance at OpenAI needed to change. Other than Quora's D'Angelo, OpenAI's four-person board consisted of Tasha McCauley, Helen Toner and OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever as of Friday.

Persons: Sam Altman, Carlos Barria, Altman, Adam D'Angelo, Greg Brockman, Satya Nadella, Sam, Brockman, Nadella, Emmett Shear, Quora's D'Angelo, OpenAI's, Tasha McCauley, Helen Toner, Ilya Sutskever, Akash Sriram, Chavi Mehta, Devika Syamnath, Arun Koyyur Organizations: OpenAI, Economic Cooperation, REUTERS, Microsoft, Bloomberg, CNBC, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Asia, San Francisco , California, U.S, OpenAI, Bengaluru

☆ Microsoft exec says OpenAI employees can join with same compensation
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-21 | by ( Ashley Capoot | In | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott on Tuesday offered to match compensation for the hundreds of employees at OpenAI who are threatening to resign following Sam Altman's sudden ouster as CEO. "Know that if needed, you have a role at Microsoft that matches your compensation and advances our collective mission." But, the comment gives some clarity to what Microsoft is willing to pay employees and how many it would hire. Early Monday morning, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said that Altman, Greg Brockman, who resigned as OpenAI's president, and their colleagues would join Microsoft as part of a new AI research group. More than 600 OpenAI employees then signed a letter to the company's board and threatened to join their former boss at Microsoft unless the members resigned.

Persons: Kevin Scott, Sam Altman's, Sam Altman, Scott, Altman, Satya Nadella, Greg Brockman, Nadella, Brockman, OpenAI, Emmett Shear, Ilya Sutskever —, — Adam D'Angelo, Tasha McCauley, Helen Toner, Sutskever, Jordan Novet Organizations: Research, Microsoft, CNBC Locations: OpenAI

☆ Why it was so easy for OpenAI's board to fire Sam Altman, one of the most influential CEOs in tech
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-21 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

OpenAI's board of directors fired Sam Altman, the man behind ChatGPT, in a shock move on Friday. OpenAI's board announced Friday that Altman is out saying it "no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI." The board consisted of six people including OpenAI's president and cofounder Greg Brockman, OpenAI's chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, Adam D'Angelo, Tasha McCauley, Helen Toner and Sam Altman himself. He pointed out that even CEOs are "at-will employees," at US companies, but that OpenAI's board "behaved like a bunch of kids" and "erratically" in this instance. Most of OpenAI's board members don't own shares in the company, including Sam Altman himself who chose not to take any equity in, which ultimately limited his power and influence.

Persons: Sam Altman, ChatGPT, OpenAI's, —, Altman, Greg Brockman, Ilya Sutskever, Adam D'Angelo, Tasha McCauley, Helen Toner, Brockman, John Bates, It's, they've, Satya Nadella, Kara Swisher's, Bates, Marissa Mayer, X, Mayer, Mark Zuckerberg, Zuckerberg, what's Organizations: Microsoft, Service, Cambridge University, Google, Meta Locations: British

While OpenAI later transitioned to a for-profit model, its controlling shareholder remains the nonprofit OpenAI Inc. and its board of directors. This unique structure made it possible for four OpenAI board members — the company's chief scientist, two outside tech entrepreneurs and an academic — to oust CEO Sam Altman on Friday. When it was founded, OpenAI’s original board co-chairs were Altman and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Musk recently launched his own AI startup, xAI, to compete with OpenAI, Microsoft and Google, among others. OpenAI's board members have not responded to requests for comment.

Persons: ChatGPT, OpenAI, Sam Altman, Berkshire Hathaway, OpenAI’s, ”, Sarah Kreps, Altman, Greg Brockman, “, Kreps, Ilya Sutskever, we’ve, Adam D’Angelo, Tasha McCauley, Helen Toner, Reid Hoffman, Will Hurd, Shivon Zilis, Brockman, Elon Musk, Musk, D’Angelo, tweeting, ” He’s, Matt O'Brien, Michael Liedtke Organizations: FRANCISCO, Google, Facebook, OpenAI Inc, Cornell University’s Tech Policy Institute, Microsoft Corp, Microsoft, Georgetown Center for Security, Emerging Technology, Republican U.S . Rep, Tesla, OpenAI, Associated Press Technology Locations: Berkshire, OpenAI, Will Hurd of Texas, Providence , Rhode Island, San Francisco

The board of directors of OpenAI, the high-flying artificial intelligence start-up, said in a note to employees on Sunday night that its former chief, Sam Altman, would not be returning to his job, while naming his second interim replacement in two days. Emmett Shear, the former chief executive of Twitch, will replace Mira Murati as interim chief executive of OpenAI, the board said. Ms. Murati, a longtime OpenAI executive, had been appointed to that role after Mr. Altman’s ouster on Friday. The board said Mr. Shear has a “unique mix of skills, expertise and relationships that will drive OpenAI forward,” according to the memo viewed by The New York Times. It was signed by each of the four directors on the company’s board; Adam D’Angelo, Helen Toner, Ilya Sutskever, and Tasha McCauley.

Persons: Sam Altman, Emmett Shear, Twitch, Mira Murati, Murati, Altman’s, Shear, ”, Adam D’Angelo, Helen Toner, Ilya Sutskever, Tasha McCauley, “ Organizations: OpenAI, The New York Times

☆ 505 OpenAI employees threaten to quit after Altman fired and his successor was replaced
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-20 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

In a letter obtained by CNN, the more than 500 employees accused the OpenAI board of mishandling Altman’s firing, failing to provide sufficient evidence for claims that Altman had not been candid with the board, and “negotiating in bad faith” with the company’s executive leadership. “Your actions have made it obvious that you are incapable of overseeing OpenAI,” wrote the employees. Murati’s promotion has since been superseded by the appointment of incoming interim CEO Emmett Shear, the 40-year-old co-founder of the livestreaming company Twitch. “Microsoft has assured us that there are positions for all OpenAI employees,” the letter added. After Sutskever posted his message to X, Altman amplified the apology by quote-posting it.

Persons: Sam Altman, Altman, “, ”, reinstates Altman, Greg Brockman, Mira Murati, Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI’s, Murati’s, Emmett Shear, Sutskever, we’ve, Adam D’Angelo, Tasha McCauley, Helen Toner, Altman’s Organizations: CNN, Microsoft, Georgetown University’s Center for Security, Emerging Technology Locations: OpenAI

☆ OpenAI employees wanted Bret Taylor to join a new board. He's no longer expected to do so, insiders say.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-20 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was ousted on Friday, igniting chaos inside the company. Amid discussions that the OpenAI board would be remade, Bret Taylor was asked to join. The former Salesforce executive and Twitter board chair is no longer poised to do so. Yet, in another affront to employees, it seems some expected changes to the board are no longer in the works. Now he is no longer set to join the OpenAI board.

Persons: Sam Altman, Bret Taylor, —, Altman, — Emmet Shear, Twitch, Mira Murati —, Elon Musk, Taylor, Greg Brockman, Adam D'Angelo, Tasha McCauley, Helen Toner, Ilya Setskever, Setskever, Brockman, Kali Hays Organizations: Service, Twitter, Elon, Microsoft, Georgetown Center for Security, Emerging Technology Locations: khays@insider.com, @hayskali

☆ OpenAI's employees were given two explanations for why Sam Altman was fired. They're unconvinced and furious.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-20 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

OpenAI 's current independent board has offered two examples of the alleged lack of candor that led them to fire co-founder and CEO Sam Altman, sending the company into chaos. Staff had spent the day expecting to be told of the reinstatement of Altman as CEO. Sustkever is said to have offered two explanations he purportedly received from the board, according to one of the people familiar. One explanation was that Altman was said to have given two people at OpenAI the same project. These explanations didn't make sense to employees and were not received well, one of the people familiar said.

Persons: OpenAI, Sam Altman, Ilya Sutskever, Emmett Shear, Mira Murati, Altman, Shear, Sutskever, Sustkever, it's, Satya Nadella, Adam D'Angelo, Tasha McCauley, Helen Toner, Setskever, Greg Brockman, Murati, she's, Kali Hays Organizations: Twitch, Business, Staff, Google, OpenAI, Murati, Microsoft, Georgetown Center for Security, Emerging Technology, Twitter Locations: OpenAI's San Francisco, khays@insider.com, @hayskali

☆ This is the wildest coup in Silicon Valley history
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-20 | by ( Michael Cogley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The wildest coup in Silicon Valley's history just took place over the last 48 hours. OpenAI booted CEO Sam Altman, nearly hired him back, then went with 2 other CEOs. Sam Altman has now been scooped up as an employee by Microsoft, OpenAI's biggest investor. Sam Altman had met with world leaders, including British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, in London earlier in the month. But Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has not let a good crisis go to waste.

Persons: OpenAI, Sam Altman, Altman, —, Mira Murati, Emmett Shear, Greg Brockman, — Aaron Levie, ❤️ emojis, AngelList, Babak Nivi, OpenAI's, Rishi Sunak, Kamala Harris, Ursula von der Leyen, Alastair Grant, Ilya Sutskever, Adam D'Angelo, Tasha McCauley, Helen Toner, Mary, Gary Marcus, Sam, 👉, Gary, Satya Nad Organizations: Microsoft, Service, British, AI, Georgetown's Center for Security, Emerging Technology, usl Locations: London

☆ What to Know About OpenAI’s Chaotic Weekend
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-19 | by ( John Koblin | More About John Koblin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

On Friday, Mr. Altman was abruptly dismissed as OpenAI’s chief executive. Details for his surprise departure are still emerging but a dispute with a fellow founder of OpenAI appears to have played a role. Mr. Sutskever also objected to what he perceived as his own diminished role inside the company. “It doesn’t seem at all implausible that we will have computers — data centers — that are much smarter than people,” Mr. Sutskever said recently on a podcast. I don’t know.”Two other OpenAI board members, Tasha McCauley and Helen Toner, have ties to the Rationalist and Effective Altruist movements, who have been concerned that A.I.

Persons: Altman, Steve Jobs, OpenAI, Ilya Sutskever, Sutskever, Mr, Tasha McCauley, Helen Toner, Altman “, ”, Brad Lightcap, Sam Organizations: Apple, Rationalist

☆ Fear that AI could one day destroy humanity may have led to Sam Altman's (potentially brief) ouster from OpenAI
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-19 | by ( Lakshmi Varanasi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Fears over the speed of AI development at OpenAI may have sowed discord within its top ranks. Some OpenAI board members may have disagreed with Altman's approach to AI innovation. OpenAI cofounder Ilya Sutskever has long called for caution due to concerns AI could harm humanity. AdvertisementSam Altman's possibly brief dismissal from OpenAI has exposed a schism between the company's top leaders over how to curb the existential threat posed by AI. OpenAI's board has not offered any more details on what led them to fire Altman beyond noting that they had "lost confidence" in him and that he was not "consistently candid" in communications.

Persons: Ilya Sutskever, —, Sam Altman's, OpenAI, Altman, Mayoshi, Sutskever, — Helen Toner, who's, Tasha McCauley —, Dario Amodei, that's, Elon Musk, Tesla Organizations: Service, The New York Times, Georgetown University's Center for Security, Emerging Technology, Wired Locations: OpenAI

☆ Sam Altman is back at OpenAI … with a guest badge
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-19 | by ( David Goldman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —Sam Altman is back at OpenAI. But Altman, Brockman and Sutskever in 2019 formed OpenAI LP, a for-profit entity that exists within the larger company’s structure. Altman had pushed the for-profit company to innovate faster and go to market with products. If not, Altman reportedly may opt for another venture, perhaps taking loyalists away from OpenAI to his new landing spot. Either way, OpenAI’s board made a consequential decision that will make massive waves in the AI industry for years to come.

Persons: Sam Altman, “, ” Altman, Greg Brockman, Brockman, Altman, Altman haven’t, Ilya Sutskever, Adam D’Angelo, Tasha McCauley, Helen Toner, Altman “, Kara Swisher, OpenAI Organizations: New, New York CNN, Wall Street, New York Times, Microsoft, GeoSim Systems, Georgetown’s Center for Security, Emerging Technology, CNN Locations: New York, OpenAI, San Francisco, Sutskever

☆ Who's on the OpenAI board — the group behind Sam Altman's ouster
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-18 | by ( Hayden Field | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

On Friday, the board of OpenAI, the buzzy AI company behind viral chatbot ChatGPT, suddenly and publicly ousted its CEO Sam Altman. OpenAI's board said it conducted "a deliberative review process" and that Altman "was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities." She is an adjunct senior management scientist at Rand Corporation and has been on the OpenAI board since 2018. "While our partnership with Microsoft includes a multibillion-dollar investment, OpenAI remains an entirely independent company governed by the OpenAI Nonprofit," OpenAI has publicly stated. On that day, Altman told Nadella, "I think we have the best partnership in tech and I'm excited for us to build AGI together."

Persons: Sam Altman, Altman, OpenAI, Greg Brockman, Ilya Sutskever, Adam D'Angelo, Tasha McCauley, Helen Toner, Reid Hoffman, Neuralink, Zilis, Will Hurd, Brockman, Sam, Sutskever, he's, D'Angelo, McCauley, Toner, Andreessen Horowitz, AGI, weren't, Mira Murati, OpenAI's Dev, Satya Nadella, Nadella, Dev, Brad Lightcap Organizations: Thursday's APEC, Summit, Google, Facebook, OpenAI, GeoSim Systems, Rand Corporation, University of Oxford's Center, Georgetown's Center for Security, Emerging Technology, Sequoia Capital, Microsoft, CNBC, Fortune Locations: Texas, OpenAI

The board of ChatGPT-maker Open AI said Friday it has pushed out its co-founder and CEO Sam Altman after a review found he was “not consistently candid in his communications” with the board. “The board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI,” the artificial intelligence company said in a statement. Mira Murati, OpenAI’s chief technology officer, will take over as interim CEO effective immediately, the company said, while it searches for a permanent replacement. While not trained as an AI engineer, Altman, now 38, has been seen as a Silicon Valley wunderkind since his early 20s. Forrester analyst Rowan Curran said Altman's departure, “while sudden,” does not likely reflect problems with OpenAI's business.

Persons: Sam Altman, “, Mira Murati, Altman, what’s, He's, Greg Brockman, Ilya Sutskever, Adam D’Angelo, Tasha McCauley, Helen Toner, Mira, ”, Paul Graham, “ Sam, Graham, ” OpenAI, Elon Musk, Musk, Elon ”, Rowan Curran, ” Curran, Haleluya Hadero, Kelvin Chan, Michael Liedtke, David Hamilton Organizations: Associated Press, OpenAI, Economic Cooperation, Georgetown Center for Security, Emerging Technology, Microsoft Locations: openai, London, Asia, San Francisco, New York

☆ OpenAI's Sam Altman exits as CEO because 'board no longer has confidence' in his ability to lead
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-17 | by ( Jonathan Vanian | In | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

OpenAI's board of directors said Friday that Sam Altman will step down as CEO and will be replaced on an interim basis by technology chief Mira Murati. "The board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI," the statement said. The board also said that Greg Brockman, OpenAI's president, "will be stepping down as chairman of the board and will remain in his role at the company, reporting to the CEO." Before taking over as CEO, Altman, 38, was president of startup accelerator Y Combinator and gained prominence in Silicon Valley as an early-stage investor. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella made a surprise guest appearance during the event, joining Altman on stage to discuss the startup's AI technologies and its partnership with Microsoft.

Persons: Sam Altman, Mira Murati, Ilya Sutskever, Adam D'Angelo, Tasha McCauley, Helen Toner, OpenAI, Greg Brockman, what's, Murati, Mira, ChatGPT, Satya Nadella, Nadella, Elon Musk, Altman, rapt, Ted Lieu, Mike Johnson, Joe Biden, Xi Jinping, Altman didn't, — CNBC's Lora Kolodny Organizations: Tech, Conference, Georgetown Center for Security, Emerging Technology, Microsoft, OpenAI, U.S . Senate, House Democratic Caucus, Economic Cooperation, U.S Locations: Laguna Beach , California, Mira, Silicon Valley, Indonesia, Asia, Pacific, Singapore, India, China, South Korea, Japan, San Francisco

Search resuls for: "Tasha McCauley"

17 mentions found