On November 17, Sam Altman was dismissed from his position as CEO of OpenAI, one of the leading private technology companies known for its pioneering role in ChatGPT technology and igniting the current explosion in the field of artificial intelligence, as well as concerns about “extinction risks” posed by the technology.
The Complex Organizational Structure of OpenAI
Altman’s dismissal — temporarily — was due to a lack of “consistent candor” with its nonprofit board. Some may wonder how a company can suddenly fire one of Silicon Valley’s most beloved figures, thanks to OpenAI’s complex, multi-level organizational structure. The nonprofit entity fully owns its for-profit subsidiary, which sells ChatGPT — the same for-profit entity into which Microsoft invested $10 billion in January. This nonprofit structure — or existed, as you’ll discover — is intended to focus on building artificial general intelligence (AGI) that benefits humanity — a noble goal, theoretically protecting the company from the impact of the technology industry’s growth at all costs. At the time, the board consisted of Altman, then-company president Greg Brockman, chief computer scientist Ilya Sutskever, AI safety researcher Helen Toner, Quora CEO Adam D’Angelo, and Tasha McCauley, a robotics engineer who was one of the board members closely linked to the “effective altruism” movement that fears AGI could destroy humanity.
The Collapse of the OpenAI Board and the Nonprofit Structure
The collapse of this board and the intended firewall of the nonprofit, which could not withstand the absolute power of raw money, revealed in Altman’s saga the future of the AI revolution — wherever the wealthy and powerful in technology want it to go.
Altman’s Return as CEO of OpenAI
In the first few days after the dismissal, no one, including the board, stated exactly why Altman had been fired. Just one day prior, he was boasting about a massive achievement in ChatGPT on stage at the APEC conference in San Francisco. Reuters speculated that it might be Q* (pronounced “Q-star”), an AI capable of doing school-level mathematics (though reports now deny this story), which is a major achievement suggesting that AI can learn rules. Estimates valued the company at $80 billion.
The board rushed to appoint former Twitch CEO Emmett Shear to head the company, leading to threats from hundreds of OpenAI employees to resign if Altman was not restored to his position. At the same time, Microsoft appointed both Altman and Brockman, with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella demanding changes to OpenAI’s nonprofit governance structure.
OpenAI Under Capital’s Control
Although OpenAI remains a nonprofit organization, it has proven to be entirely subject to capital forces, as its entire board was dismissed based on a decision that did not please the wealthy in Silicon Valley — like Khosla Ventures founder Vinod Khosla.
Future Concerns
Despite the chaotic incident, it is clear that Altman’s thinking is closely aligned with Silicon Valley’s mindset of growth at any cost — to the extent that he was trying to raise funds from sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East for a future AI chip manufacturing company. The new OpenAI is one that focuses exclusively on growth — in revenue, user numbers, and capabilities — without caring whether its products actually improve while being sold in critical infrastructure like life sciences.
The OpenAI disaster is a dark day for Silicon Valley, where the wealthy and powerful used their influence to crush those who would not pursue technological advancement ruthlessly and thoughtlessly at any cost. Aside from the drama and entertainment, this is a cautionary tale and evidence that the elite in Silicon Valley want you to think “differently” only if you think exactly as they do.
This
Opinion and analysis article, and the views expressed by the author or authors are not necessarily those of Scientific American.
Copyright and Permissions: Ed Zitron is the CEO of EZPR, a national public relations agency in the technology and business sector. He is also the author of the technology and culture newsletter Where’s Your Ed At and host of the podcast 15 Minutes in Hell.
Leave a Reply