Sam Altman’s brief departure from OpenAI revealed his crucial role in fostering unity and cohesion among the company’s members.
From the founding of OpenAI to his dismissal and return
Nowadays, few people haven’t heard the name of the renowned and famous figure Elon Musk. As one of the greatest minds of the modern era, Elon Musk has significantly impacted the world through innovative thinking, smart product development, advancing AI, revolutionizing the cryptocurrency market, and other fields. One of the figures most frequently mentioned alongside Elon Musk is Samuel H. Altman, better known as Sam Altman.
Sam Altman, this young genius, is one of the most successful and well-known American entrepreneurs. At nearly 37 years of age, he has achieved numerous successes in various fields, including programming, blogging, and investing. Altman is considered one of the biggest high-risk investors in the U.S., and his extensive investments in multiple companies affirm this. Some of the most significant companies he has invested in include Pinterest, Reddit, Airbnb, Teespring, Stripe, and Asana.
Sam Altman’s Youth and Education
Sam Altman was born on April 22, 1985, in St. Louis, Missouri, U.S., into a Jewish family and was raised there. At the age of eight, he received his first personal computer. Altman continued his education at John Burroughs School and later went to Stanford University, where he studied computer science.
Interestingly, like many other geniuses, including Steve Jobs, he decided to drop out of college and left Stanford in 2005. Although Altman did not complete his studies or receive a university degree, the University of Waterloo awarded him an honorary degree in recognition of his remarkable achievements and talents in 2017.
Sam Altman’s Professional History from the Beginning to Now
In 2005, at the age of 19, Sam Altman co-founded and became the CEO of the company “Loopt.” Loopt was based in California, U.S., and provided users with the ability to selectively share their location with others via their smartphones.
After achieving initial success and raising close to $30 million in funding, in 2012, Loopt faced bankruptcy due to its failure to attract enough customers and generate sufficient revenue, leading to its eventual closure. Following this, Green Dot Corporation purchased the now-defunct Loopt for $43.4 million. However, Altman remained active in the business world, continuing his professional pursuits while taking on new roles.
Since 2011, he has been working part-time at Y Combinator, one of the most influential accelerators in the world, which has supported over 2,000 companies, including Reddit, Twitch, Dropbox, and Airbnb.
In February 2014, Paul Graham, one of Y Combinator’s co-founders, appointed Altman as the company’s CEO.
That same year, Sam Altman wrote a blog post estimating Y Combinator’s value at over $65 billion and expressed his hope that the number of startups backed by YC would grow to 1,000 new companies per year. He worked hard to expand and support tech companies and pursued this mission with determination.
In 2015, the well-known Forbes magazine named Altman the best investor under 30, and his colleague Paul Graham was recognized as one of the top five startup founders from 1979 to 2009.
In March 2019, Y Combinator officially announced that Altman would no longer be its CEO to focus more on his newly established company, OpenAI. In early 2020, he formally stepped down as CEO of Y Combinator and officially became the CEO of OpenAI.
“Another piece that’s important alongside focus is intensity. Startups are always working at high intensity.”
—Sam Altman
Introduction to OpenAI
OpenAI was founded in San Francisco, USA on December 10, 2015. The initial investors were two well-known figures, Elon Musk and Sam Altman, who started the company with a capital of nearly one billion dollars. The primary goal of establishing this company was to focus on developing safe and harmless AI and machine-learning tools for video games. Less than a year after its official launch, on April 27, 2016, OpenAI introduced its first AI offering, OpenAI Gym, and its platform.
After this unveiling, the company focused on more general AI research and development for the next two years.
This hard work resulted in OpenAI’s second major and well-known product in 2018: a pre-trained language model called GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer). GPT is a neural network or learning model that operates similarly to the human brain and can understand and respond to human language based on the information it possesses.
On December 5, 2016, OpenAI released a new platform to measure and train AI using sources like games and websites. In August 2017, in honor of “The International 2017 Dota 2” video game tournament, OpenAI hosted a competition for the first time between a professional Dota 2 player, known as Dendi, and an AI system.
For those familiar with the game, Dota 2 is considered one of the most challenging video games, and Dendi is a famous player at the game’s highest level. Interestingly, Dendi was defeated by the AI, which easily outperformed him, winning the match.
After the match, Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s Chief Technology Officer, announced that the AI bot had learned to play the complex Dota 2 game in just two weeks of training. This event demonstrated the high capability of AI to handle complex and difficult challenges like playing Dota 2.
2018 was a significant year for OpenAI, as Elon Musk left the company, citing a conflict of interest between his work at OpenAI and Tesla’s plans.
In 2014, after the CEO of the social media platform Reddit resigned, Sam Altman briefly served as CEO for eight days. In July 2015, he announced Steve Huffman’s return as CEO of Reddit. Besides his past roles, Altman has also served as the chairman of two nuclear energy companies, Helion and Oklo.
He emphasizes that nuclear energy is crucial in advancing the technology sector and has cited this as the reason for his investments in these companies.
Altman’s professional achievements don’t stop there. He is also recognized as an active and prominent figure in cryptocurrencies. In 2020, Sam Altman founded Worldcoin.
With the expansion of AI and robotics technology, many are concerned about how, in the future, we will differentiate human activities from those of robots on the internet. This is where Sam Altman initiated the development of the Worldcoin project.
“The Worldcoin project is a global economy and identity network that operates based on the proof of individuality for each person.”
— Sam Altman
The project follows two major goals. Its primary objective is to develop and launch a token fully controlled by humans, ensuring equal and fair access to the global economy. The second goal is to establish biometric verification for all humans.
Worldcoin creates digital identities and assigns them using a unique feature called World ID. World ID, a digital passport, is a global privacy-focused identity network that allows users to verify their identity through iris scans.
People join the Worldcoin community by scanning their irises and strengthening the database. As this database grows, it becomes easier and more reliable to distinguish between humans and robots on the internet.
Through this unique digital identity, Worldcoin could play a significant role in verifying identity in an online world increasingly populated by advanced artificial intelligence.
Two other key elements in the Worldcoin project are the World App (a cryptocurrency wallet) and the Worldcoin (WLD) token.
Sam Altman’s Shocking Dismissal from OpenAI and Worldcoin’s Price Drop
On November 27 of this year, shocking news surprised everyone: Sam Altman was removed from his position as CEO of OpenAI, and Mira Murati temporarily replaced him. OpenAI stated in a press release that its board of directors no longer trusted Altman’s ability to lead the company.
Some, such as Ron Conway, a prominent Silicon Valley investor, compared Altman’s dismissal from OpenAI to Steve Jobs’s ousting from Apple, describing it as a coup.
Following Altman’s removal, Greg Brockman, another co-founder and the chairman of the board, was also ousted from his position, completing the “coup” at OpenAI.
Altman’s dismissal occurred just as OpenAI, under his leadership, had recently unveiled new innovative features for ChatGPT at a conference.
In response to this news, shares of Microsoft, OpenAI’s primary investor and 49% owner, lost more than $80 billion in market value.
Several key figures, including Jakub Pachocki, head of research; Aleksander Madry, head of AI risk evaluation; and Szymon Sidor, a researcher in the open-source field, resigned in protest of the board’s decision.
OpenAI’s statement read:
“Mr. Altman’s departure followed a consultative process by the board. We concluded that he had not always been candid in his communications with the board, hindering his responsibilities. The board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI.”
According to CoinMarketCap, this news negatively impacted the value of Worldcoin, with its price dropping by more than 13%. This occurred despite Altman’s cryptocurrency project raising approximately $115 million in funding, led by Blockchain Capital, in May of this year. In March, it was also announced that Altman held a seat on Worldcoin’s board but did not participate in its day-to-day operations.
In response to his dismissal, Altman tweeted:
“I loved my time at OpenAI. It was personally transformative for me, and I hope it was for the world too.”
Shortly afterward, OpenAI appointed Emmett Shear, the former CEO of Twitch, as interim CEO, replacing Mira Murati. This switch appeared to be motivated by Murati’s support for Altman’s return to the company.
OpenAI’s Advanced AI: The Reason for Altman’s Dismissal?
Before these events and Altman’s removal, Reuters reported that several OpenAI researchers had written a letter to the company’s board expressing concerns about a powerful new AI developed under Altman’s leadership called Q or Q-Star. According to them, this confidential AI model could threaten humanity.
An anonymous source indicated that this new model could solve certain complex mathematical problems with its extensive computational resources. While currently capable of solving simple mathematical problems, these early successes made researchers optimistic about Q-Star’s future potential.
Before his dismissal, Altman attended a technical meeting about OpenAI’s progress and stated:
“This new AI model lifts the veil of ignorance and shifts the boundaries of discovery.”
Sam Altman, Former OpenAI CEO, Hired by Microsoft
On November 20, following Sam Altman’s removal as CEO of OpenAI, Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s CEO, announced on his personal social media account that Altman and Greg Brockman would be joining Microsoft to lead its advanced AI research team. According to the British newspaper The Guardian, this move could revolutionize the AI industry.
In his post, Satya Nadella wrote:
“We remain committed to our partnership with OpenAI and are confident in our product roadmap and our ability to continue innovating based on what we introduced at Microsoft Ignite. We also look forward to working with Emmett Shear and OpenAI’s new leadership team.”
In response, Sam Altman wrote:
“The mission continues.”
“I believe that each of us should find meaning in our work. The best work happens when you realize you’re not just working but improving the lives of others.” – Satya Nadella
Sam Altman’s Swift Return to OpenAI
Just two days after Sam Altman was hired by Microsoft to lead its AI strategy team, OpenAI reversed course and announced plans to bring both him and Greg Brockman back.
On the morning of November 22, OpenAI officially posted on Twitter that it had signed a new agreement with Altman and Brockman, bringing Sam Altman back as the CEO.
This turnaround came after the threat of mass resignations from employees who had written a letter announcing their intent to quit in response to Altman’s sudden removal.
OpenAI’s statement read:
“We have agreed to bring Sam Altman back as CEO with a new board consisting of Bret Taylor as chair, Larry Summers, and Adam D’Angelo. We are working through the details. Thank you for your patience.”
Greg Brockman, who resigned as chairman of OpenAI’s board in solidarity with Altman and joined Microsoft, will also return to the company.
Brockman commented:
“The company’s fate was uncertain until just hours ago. Over 500 employees had submitted an open letter to the previous board, presenting them with two options: either resign or watch the signatories step down, a disaster for a company valued at nearly $80 billion.”
Sam Altman also expressed his personal affection for OpenAI and his decision to return, stating that he would step down from his role at Microsoft. He explained that his values and vision drove his decision and intends to foster even stronger collaboration between OpenAI and Microsoft upon his return.
Satya Nadella expressed his support for Altman and Brockman’s decisions in response. He noted that their return would help OpenAI survive and thrive in AI, reinforcing Microsoft’s ongoing commitment to working closely with OpenAI and its new leadership in AI research and development.
“A winning team feels good and keeps winning, but a team that hasn’t tasted victory for a while loses motivation and continues to lose.”
— Sam Altman
Altman’s brief separation from OpenAI demonstrated his crucial role in uniting and maintaining the company’s cohesion. After his dismissal, 505 out of OpenAI’s 700 employees signed a letter announcing their resignation, stating that the board’s decision to remove Altman was destroying the company’s primary mission.
The coordinated reaction of OpenAI’s employees and Microsoft’s job offer highlighted Sam Altman’s strong influence in the AI ecosystem. This reaction reflected the employees’ determination to preserve OpenAI’s core objectives and opposition to changes that might undermine the company’s mission in advancing AI.
