The governance structure at OpenAI was a novel one, as I reported earlier this year—meant to limit the control one corporate entity could have over the development of the important, but potentially dangerous technology of artificial general intelligence. Now that unusual structure has backfired.
Late on Friday, the board of OpenAI’s nonprofit suddenly ousted CEO Sam Altman and pushed former OpenAI president, Greg Brockman, off the board (he and key OpenAI researchers resigned in protest of the board’s actions shortly thereafter). The subsequent revolt within OpenAI’s ranks led to talks of bringing Altman back, though by late Sunday evening, those talks had dissolved, with the board naming Emmett Shear, who cofounded Twitch, as interim CEO.
