Two days ago, Sam Altman, the creator of OpenAI and ChatGPT, was fired from his company. However, he did not remain unemployed for long, as on Monday, the CEO of Microsoft announced that he had found a place for the creator of one of the most important artificial intelligence (AI) tools on his team. Greg Brockman is joining the tech giant along with him.
Altman from OpenAI Moves to Microsoft
Finance Magnates reported on Saturday morning that OpenAI had made a shocking decision and decided to fire Sam Altman and appointed Mira Murati, who had previously served as Chief Technology Officer, as the interim CEO. The Board of Directors explained its decision by saying that it "no longer has confidence" in Altman's actions, who co-founded the startup in 2015 and has served as its CEO since 2019.
Since this morning, there have been rumors that OpenAI is considering rehiring Altman, while information appeared that the CEO of Twitch, Ermett Shear, is taking on the role as the interim CEO. A moment later, Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, resolved doubts about Altman's future by announcing that both the creator of ChatGPT and the former Chairman of OpenAI, Greg Brockman, are joining the tech giant.
Over the weekend, there was a lot of talk that many other employees may leave OpenAI along with Altman. Nadella's information seems to confirm these rumors. It shows that Altman and Brockman are joining the newly created AI research team "together with colleagues".
Microsoft is a very large investor in OpenAI, having pumped $10 billion into the company. The CEO, Nadella, confirms that the company "remains committed to our partnership with OpenAI and [has] confidence in our product roadmap," despite recent turmoil in the startup's structure.
A Company Worth $86 Billion
Finance Magnates reported at the end of October that OpenAI is currently in the negotiation phase regarding a tender offer. This would allow current employees to sell their shares and value the company at $86 billion.
If the valuation were to be realized, OpenAI would become one of the most valuable private companies in the world, surpassing giants like Stripe or the Chinese online retailer Shein. The creators of ChatGPT would also be just one step behind SpaceX and TikTok's parent company, ByteDance.
OpenAI is entering the hardware arena to develop custom AI chips, driven by the growing demand for specialized hardware tailored to AI workloads. Traditional processors like CPUs and GPUs are limited in handling complex AI tasks. Custom hardware like ASICs and FPGAs offers higher performance and energy efficiency.
