The transformation of the company was significantly impacted by a blend of prominent figures from the IT industry and individuals external to the artificial intelligence (A.I.) community.
The CEO of the renowned A.I. startup OpenAI, Sam Altman, faced a sudden dismissal by the company’s board of directors on November 17, leading to upheaval in Silicon Valley. Following a tumultuous five-day period that encapsulated heated debates regarding the future of artificial intelligence, Mr. Altman was reinstated, and the board was reconstituted. The key participants in this significant software episode are outlined below:
Sam Altman, the co-founder and CEO of OpenAI, established the non-profit organization in 2015 in collaboration with Elon Musk and several others. He also held the position of president at the influential Silicon Valley startup incubator Y Combinator. In 2018, he assumed the role of CEO and transitioned the entity into a for-profit enterprise. Subsequently, Microsoft extended a substantial investment of $1 billion.
Greg Brockman, the founder and president of OpenAI, collaborated with Mr. Altman in founding Stripe, an online payment platform, before departing from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to serve as the company’s chief technology officer. As one of the twelve founders of OpenAI, he envisioned the lab’s potential to develop A.I. without the commercial constraints that governed tech giants like Google.
Ilya Sutskever, the chairman and chief scientist at OpenAI, was among the three researchers from the University of Toronto who, in 2012, published a groundbreaking study showcasing machines’ remarkable ability to learn object recognition in images. After departing from Google to join forces with Mr. Altman, Mr. Brockman, and others in establishing OpenAI.
Mira Murati, the chief technology officer at OpenAI, joined the organization in 2018 and swiftly ascended to her current position. Following Mr. Altman’s ousting as CEO, Dr. Sutskever, Adam D’Angelo, Helen Toner, and Tasha McCauley, all members of the OpenAI panel, appointed Ms. Murati as interim CEO for a brief period.
Adam D’Angelo, a board member at OpenAI, collaborated with Mark Zuckerberg, the potential founder of Facebook, on an online audio player project while attending Phillips Exeter Academy. Subsequently, he founded the popular question-and-answer platform Quora after serving as Facebook’s chief technology officer from 2006 to 2008. Joining the OpenAI board in 2018, he continues to helm Quora as its CEO.
Former OpenAI board member Helen Toner joined the organization in 2021. She is associated with the group “Powerful Kindness,” which speculates about the potential societal impacts of A.I. advancements. Additionally, she contributes to national security discourse in her role as the policy director at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology; she departed from the board as part of the agreement to reinstate Mr. Altman.
Former OpenAI board member Tasha McCauley, an accomplished management scientist at the RAND Corporation, a renowned think tank, also sits on the American board of Effective Ventures, a consortium dedicated to effective altruism. She participated in a historic A.I. security conference in Puerto Rico in 2015 alongside Mr. Musk and others. Similar to Ms. Toner, she relinquished her position on the OpenAI board upon Mr. Altman’s return.
During the Sun Valley Conference, often dubbed “summer camp for entrepreneurs,” Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella crossed paths with Mr. Altman in 2018. This encounter led to Microsoft’s decision to invest \(1 billion in OpenAI the following year, with subsequent investments totaling an additional \)12 billion.
Brian Chesky, the CEO of Airbnb, collaborated with Mr. Altman in nurturing another software startup, bearing his namesake. Following Mrs. Altman’s dismissal from OpenAI, Mr. Chesky, along with numerous friends and colleagues, played a pivotal role in facilitating her return to the organization.
Emmett Shear, the former CEO of Twitch, founded Justin.tv, another startup supported by Mr. Altman. Subsequently, he assumed the role of CEO at Justin’s successor, Twitch.tv. He shares the belief that A.I. could potentially have profound societal implications and briefly served as OpenAI’s interim CEO.
Bret Taylor, the newly appointed president of the OpenAI board, previously held the position of co-CEO at Amazon.com and served as Facebook’s former chief technology officer. Additionally, he assumed the role of chairman when Mr. Musk acquired Online. As part of the agreement to reinstate Mr. Altman, Mr. Taylor transitioned to the OpenAI board and took on the chairmanship.
Lawrence H. Summers, a recent addition to the OpenAI board, is a prominent economist known for his tenure as Treasury Secretary under the Clinton administration. He has been vocal about the potential impact of A.I. on employment, although his views have garnered mixed reactions over time. Notably, during his tenure as Harvard’s president, he controversially suggested that not everyone may possess an innate aptitude for mathematics and science.
Silicon Valley investor Ron Conway, renowned for his venture capital acumen and close ties to Mr. Altman, played a crucial role in persuading Mr. Altman to return to OpenAI, with support from Mrs. Chesky. In a recent correspondence, he urged Mr. Altman to quash speculations surrounding his departure from the OpenAI board.
