OpenAI Employees Threaten to Quit En Masse After Former CEO Sam Altman Joins Microsoft
The news of former OpenAI CEO Sam Altman joining Microsoft has sent shock waves among its employees. On December 18th, Altman revealed his appointment to Microsoft as its Chief Technology Officer of Artificial Intelligence and Research (AI&R). The news sees him joining Microsoft’s senior leadership team after two-years of leading OpenAI.
Members of the ranks of OpenAI’s employees already took to Twitter to express their indignation over Altman’s newly acquired status as an ally of the tech giant. Several voiced their commitment to leave the organization if Altman remains as its chairman.
The team, according to what chief technology officer Ilya Sutskever, and chief executive Greg Brockman, publicly stated, now fears for the continuity of OpenAI’s pledge to remain independent, and autonomous of tech giants.
Their attempt to guard its independence and autonomy is in accordance to the company’s mission, which is to build artificial general intelligence (AGI) “in a way that is most likely to benefit humanity as a whole, unconstrained by a need to generate financial return.”
The fear among employees is that this new field, with its awarding potential of ability to solve large and important problems efficiently, may eventually be swallowed by larger companies, such as Microsoft, applied to projects of financial and commercial interest.
This episode has caused unease in the artificial intelligence landscape, due to OpenAI being viewed by many as a frontrunner in the race to create AGI. Change of leadership, since its founding in late-2015, especially that of CEO Sam Altman, is unlikely to sit well with the employees and the community.
In light of this, the employees’ insistence on Altman’s departure is understandable. Although, it remains to be seen if the remaining leadership will be able to subsequently alleviate fears of a lack of autonomy, and whether OpenAI will be able to uphold its commitment to pursue and benefit humanity as a whole.
