Recent advancements in AI have captured our imaginations.
With the launch of chatGBT, Sam Altman and OpenAI brought us closer to our dreams and fears of a world with artificial intelligence.
OpenAI was founded with a mandate to build AI for the good of humanity, and it was funded with billions of dollars of investment from the likes of Microsoft.
The company and its charismatic CEO, Sam Altman, who I've spoken to on this podcast, seemed to be leading the charge into an exciting and, for many, terrifying future.
But after a restructure shifted the corporate mandate from a non-profit organization to a for-profit business, some leaders inside the company felt that Altman had become too focused on commercialization.
Some also believed that AI would soon be autonomous, and with mounting concerns around safety for the public, OpenAI's chief scientist, Stagedakoo, which led to Altman's shocking ouster in only five days.
From Wondery, Business Wars is a podcast about the biggest corporate rivalries.
In the newest season, host David Brown tracks the power struggles and philosophical differences within OpenAI that culminated in Sam Altman's shocking firing, the chaos that followed, and what it means not just for OpenAI, but for the future of artificial intelligence overall.
I'm about to play a clip from the newest season of Business Wars, Sam Altman, and the battle for AI.
Follow Business Wars on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.
You can listen early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus.
It's just before noon on Friday, November 17, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman hustles into his hotel suite on the Las Vegas Strip.
He's 38 years old, with a small elfin frame and large blue eyes.
Over the past year, he's become one of the most powerful people in Silicon Valley.
In November 2022, OpenAI released ChatGPT version 3.5, a chatbot that can write code, answer questions, and even tell jokes, all while seeming uncannily human.
In a year, this iteration of ChatGPT has gained roughly 100 million users.
It has leapfrogged giant tech companies like Google and Meta to become the leading artificial intelligence company in the world.
Altman is now the poster child for the artificial intelligence industry, and he's not standing still.
He spent the past year jet-setting around the globe to meet with world leaders and the press, pitching new ideas for how to push AI forward.
Altman sits down at the desk in his hotel room and flips open his laptop.
He searches through his emails looking for a link to join a video call.
Last night, Altman received a text from OpenAI's chief scientist and board member, Ilya Sutskover, asking Altman to join a board meeting at noon.
Sutskover didn't say what the meeting would be about, but Altman knows that Sutskover and other members of the board feel that OpenAI is moving too fast and should be cautious about what products they push into the marketplace.
Altman assumes this meeting is likely a rehash of that disagreement.
In the distance, Altman hears a car racing by.
He looks up, a wave of regret passing through him.
He's in Las Vegas for the Formula One race set to take place the next day.
He hopes he can get through this video call as fast as possible so he can get to the track and watch the practice laps.
Altman finds the email with the Google Meet link and clicks on it.
After a second, the screen loads and the faces of four board members stare back at him.
He feels immediately uneasy.
Missing from the group is board member Greg Brockman.
Brockman is one of the co-founders of OpenAI and Altman's closest ally on the board.
He hopes Brockman is just running late and not that he wasn't invited.
Altman hides his unease and waves into the camera.
Hey everyone. Across his screen, the faces of the board nod in acknowledgement, but no one says anything.
Altman carries on. Should we wait for Greg to join or just jump in?
In the right hand corner of Altman's screen, Sutskover shifts in his seat.
We can get started. Great.
What's up? What do we need to discuss?
Sutskover takes a deep breath.
Sam, the board has conducted a deliberative review process and we've concluded that you have not been consistently candid with us, which has hindered the board's ability to exercise our responsibilities.
What? When have I not been candid?
The board no longer has confidence in your ability to continue to lead OpenAI.
Therefore, we are terminating your role as CEO.
Altman is stunned. His eyes go wide.
He says the first thing that comes to mind.
How can I help? The best thing you can do is support the interim chief executive.
Yeah, yeah, of course. Thank you for your time and service to OpenAI.
Before Altman can say anything else, each member of the board squares go black until Altman is the only one left on the call.
His mind whirls. He feels like he's in a dream or a nightmare.
There's no way he could have actually been fired.
OpenAI has exploded under his leadership.
In the past year, they've grown from roughly 100 employees to nearly 800.
Their valuation has tripled to close to 90 billion dollars.
This has to be a mistake.
Altman goes into his email.
Surely there will be an email waiting for him there, clarifying the situation.
As Altman clicks over to his email, the screen reloads, but he can't open anything.
He's been logged out. Frustrated.
Altman tries to log back in, but his access is denied.
The screen reads, no such user.
Altman tries again. Same response.
And then it hits him. His account has been deactivated.
This wasn't a miscommunication.
He's actually been fired.
And he has no idea what to do next.
From Wondery, I'm David Brown, and this is Business Wars.
News of Sam Altman's firing in November of 2023 shocked business and tech experts alike.
But the truth was that the fissure between Altman and the OpenAI board had been brewing for almost a year.
In 2015, Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, Ilya Sutskover, and others, including tech giant Elon Musk, formed OpenAI.
Concerned about the potential dangers of unchecked artificial intelligence, they founded OpenAI as a nonprofit.
The company charter stipulated that they would only develop artificial intelligence that was beneficial for humanity.
But in 2019, they felt like they were falling behind other companies.
So they restructured OpenAI into a for-profit company.
This allowed them to raise a lot of money fast enough to keep up.
But to honor their original ideals, they put the new company under the oversight of the nonprofit board.
They figured the board could help ensure they stayed true to their mission of creating AI that is beneficial to humanity.
The move to for-profit paid off.
Microsoft soon invested $1 billion into the company.
But not everyone was on board.
A faction inside the company, led by Ilya Sutskover, felt that Altman became too focused on commercialization and lost sight of OpenAI's founding principles.
Sutskover and his allies believed that at the current rate of development, AI would soon be autonomous and it would be too late to ensure that it was safe for humans.
Follow Business Wars on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.
You can listen to Business Wars early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus.
For more deep dive and daily business content, listen to Wondery, the destination for business podcasts.
With shows like How I Built This, The Best One Yet, Business Movers and many more, Wondery means business.
