Altman returns as OpenAI CEO with new board

post by Seth Herd · 2023-11-22T16:04:03.123Z · LW · GW · 3 comments

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It's news to me even though it was announced last night.

I think this is probably better than him and most staff going to MS, but I'm not sure.

https://twitter.com/OpenAI/status/1727206187077370115?s=19

From the OpenAI Twitter account, 10p ET Tuesday:

We have reached an agreement in principle for Sam Altman to return to OpenAI as CEO with a new initial board of Bret Taylor (Chair), Larry Summers, and Adam D'Angelo.

We are collaborating to figure out the details. Thank you so much for your patience through this.

I think we'll have to wait for someone to leak the actual content of the reasons for the board trying to fire him to figure out what this all suggests for his and the orgs values and power structure.

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comment by Seth Herd · 2023-11-22T17:20:23.542Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

There's also some supposed insider information about Altman being in a conflict with board member Toner before the ouster, but the article is paywalled:

https://www.theinformation.com/articles/altman-argued-with-openai-board-member-toner-before-ouster

Replies from: gwern
comment by gwern · 2023-11-22T18:09:54.505Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

See https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/KXHMCH7wCxrvKsJyn/openai-facts-from-a-weekend?commentId=toNjz7gy4rrCFd99A [LW(p) · GW(p)] for discussion of the original.

(Since you linked The Information, note that the Information has always been chummy with Altman and has been a key Altman faction mouthpiece during this dispute; and that consistent with this, unlike all of the board-damaging leaks where the meat was carefully upfront where all free readers could see it and screenshot it for Twitter, they put the Toner attack behind their extraordinarily-expensive paywall where you can't see it - which is especially peculiar considering that it was the NYT which reported it, where you can read it for free. This is how the game is played. Keep this in mind when you see any quotes, especially the ones which are not full sentences.)

Replies from: Seth Herd
comment by Seth Herd · 2023-11-22T19:28:15.474Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Fascinating, thank you! Your linked collection of relevant quotes is amazing. I've got a better idea now of what probably happened, although I'm sure there's some important discussions about safety that we still don't know about.