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Historic Drama at OpenAI as CEO Altman Fired - Timeline

Historic Drama at OpenAI as CEO Altman Fired - Timeline

ALSO: How to read minds with AI

Achraf Khoja
November 21, 2023

Welcome back AI enthusiasts,

OpenAI Shakes The World Again, in unexpected, dramatic & historic fashion!

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, it’s been a crazy rollercoaster ride at OpenAI! Sam Altman getting fired, almost rehired, OpenAI board gets shaken, staff members resign and show support, then Sam Altman joins Microsoft.

You couldn't write a better movie script if you tried (Can’t wait to see Christopher Nolan directing this movie - Oscars will definitely follow)

Let’s unpack the story.

I’m Captain AI, and Here’s Today’s Briefing:

📰 MUST-KNOW headlines this week
⚒️ 5 AI tools to transform you into an AI Superhero
🎨 My favorite AI generated images
📚 Resources

Read time: 5 minutes

HIGHLIGHTS

OPENAI & Sam Altman

⚡Chaos & Drama as OpenAI board fires CEO & Co-Founder Sam Altman

Ilya Sutskever to Sam Altman

OpenAI replaces its first job from humans - Sam Altman’s job.

Timeline:

Nov 16: Ilya Sutskever, Chief Scientist and Co-founder at OpenAI, texted Altman on Thursday evening to schedule a Friday noon call.
Nov 17: OpenAI board fires Sam Altman. President Greg Brockman quits. Mira Murati, OpenAI’s CTO, is appointed as interim CEO.
This led to worldwide shock and backlash from staff, investors and the public.
Nov 18: Reason for Altman’s firing stated as "communication issues and not malfeasance”. OpenAI Staff gives the board an ultimatum, either the board resigns & Altman/Brockman return, or they all resign.
We see outpouring support for Altman in real time on X as he replies with “💖”. The board agrees in principle to bring back Altman but the ultimatum deadline passes without action...
Nov 19: In a shocking move, negotiations fall as OpenAI appoints Emmett Shear, ex-CEO of Twitch, as interim CEO. Many OpenAI staff resign. Absolute Chaos.
OpenAI board had also approached Anthropic for a possible merger but were shut down.
Finally, Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella engineers the craziest plot twist by hiring Altman & Brockman to lead a new advanced AI research team before the markets open on Monday.
Nov 20: 95% of OpenAI staff (Including Ilya who started this chain of events but has since expressed regret), sign a letter threating to move to Microsoft if the board does not resign. Altman open to return. The story is continuing to unfold in real time!

Rumours:

The official reason for Altman’s ousting is “breakdown of communications”. However, many are speculating that OpenAI achieved AGI*, and they disagree on how to handle it. Sam Altman alluded a couple days before his firing of a discovery made at OpenAI, the 4th major breakthrough they’ve experienced since founding the company.

Nothing is yet confirmed and these are just rumours.

*AGI = Artificial General Intelligence. Computer Software as intelligent as humans.

Why It’s Important:

Sam Altman has been the public face of AI and is beloved by many. This abrupt news has shocked everyone in the AI Space. Many will be facing backlash, but the real victor here is Microsoft.

Although they will all keep working in the AI Space one way or another, what really intrigues me is the reason behind all this chaos. Whether you believe the rumors or not, such an abrupt deal-breaking decision is not justified by the “communication issues”. Something else behind the scenes has spooked Ilya and the board, and we deserve to know the reason.

Are humans behind this or is AGI already making decisions?

Microsoft & OpenAI & Sam Altman

🤖OpenAI seeks more Microsoft funds to build AGI

What Happened:

A few days before the OpenAI debacle, Sam Altman was in talks with Microsoft to fund the development of AGI. A software as intelligent as humans. I’ll leave it to the readers whether there is a connection to both events.

Altman has been committed to building an AGI, stating “The vision is to make AGI, figure out how to make it safe . . . and figure out the benefits.” OpenAI has also been working on GPT-5, which will reportedly be “susbtantially different to GPT-4”.

Why It’s Important:

OpenAI sure is working hard on all these AI tools.

If achieved, AGI will be another breakthrough to humanity, reaching an intelligence possibly more powerful than ours, without our humanity. Ethical and moral questions will come into play, but it is undeniable that AGI will reshape the world as we know it, for better or for worse.

With the right environment, we can be optimistic about its potential.

Meta & AI

📲Meta quietly disbands its Responsible AI Team

What Happened:

While everyone is focused on OpenAI’s emotional rollercoaster, Meta quietly restructures and breaks up its Responsible AI (RAI) team, moving its member to the generative AI product team and Meta‘s AI infrastructure.

RAI was established to identify issues with Meta’s AI training approaches and diverse information. This has led to previous problems in Meta’s social media platforms.

Why It’s Relevant:

Meta often states its promise to responsible AI development, but their “year of efficiency” will be marked by the dissolution of their ethical AI team to focus more on generative AI.

CaptainAI & Superhero Abilities

🧠AI Grants Superhero Ability to Read Minds & Feelings

The Gist:

Speech Crafts Analytics, which uses AI to analyze audio recordings, can shine a light on people’s emotions and whether they are telling the truth. Investors have shown interest to use this AI tool on business executives.

This AI can help detect betraying signals in business executives speeches that identify when an executive is anxious or feels tension talking about a specific topic. Those signals are identified through shifts in speech rate, pitch, volume and choice of words. The tool was accurately used on Illumina’s CEO two months before he resigned.

Analysts hope this AI tool can help uncover “what is not said”. Someone should use this on Ilya and OpenAI’s board to figure out what happened.

Why It’s Relevant:

While this application is great for investors, how could this look like in the future? Will it be used in the judicial system? At schools? At home between family members?

Will this push us to make better decisions or makes us despise AI? Is it ethical? Especially when inaccuracies undoubtedly occur.. There's a lot to unpack - but the same goes for all AI applications.

Politics & AI

🌐President Biden welcomes China’s President Xi for talks

US President Biden (left) and China’s President Xi (right)

What Happened:

President Biden welcomes President Xi in San Francisco for talks. The discussion lasts four hours with little agreement. The biggest commitment is they promised to keep an open line and discussion in times of crisis.

They have also agreed to keep talking on the use of artificial intelligence in their nuclear systems. Further discussions included the development of artificial intelligence programs and surveillance products.

Is this a good sign?

The two big superpowers, who have historically disagreed on many items, are open to have conversations. In a world full of conflict, communication is often a positive takeaway.

Unfortunately, while Xi said their different countries are “capable of rising above differences”, Biden did not hesitate to call Xi a dictator in a later news conference.

ADDITIONAL NEWS

💥Amazon to cut several hundred ‘Alexa’ jobs

Amazon will reportedly terminate hundreds of roles in its Alexa division. This move is part of a shift in priorities and a focus on developing new forms of artificial intelligence.

🎥YouTube experiments with AI music - DreamTrack

YouTube shares a sneak peek of AI music experiments, developed in collaboration with Google DeepMind. You can watch the demo here.

😷Forward Health launches CarePods, a self-contained, AI-powered doctor’s office

Why seek a second opinion when you can ask AI - with a comprehensive in built guide with blood test, blood pressure check and swab for ailments, dedicated to perform accurate diagnosis.

VILLAIN OF THE WEEK & AI TOOLS

🦹‍♂️Villain of the week - Helplessness!

Entrepreneurs face many hardships along their path. Those who start out get frozen and stuck in a habit of “I can’t/I don’t know/I don’t have time”. With the right AI Tools, you can get artificial help along the way to build your business.

Captain AI has used all these tools so you don’t have to waste time searching - here are 5 AI Tools that can maximize your time and transform you into an AI Superhero!