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- Two OpenAI executives expressed concern about Sam Altman before his dismissal, The New York Times reported.
- The outlet reported that the company’s chief technology officer, Mira Murati, played a key role.
- Altman returned as CEO within days, leaving many unanswered questions about what happened.
While it’s still unclear what exactly happened before OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was abruptly ousted from the company in November, only to return in less than a week, more details have been revealed in a new report.
When his departure was announced, OpenAI’s board of directors said it “no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI” and that he “was not consistently candid in his communications.” Still, the vague explanation only raised more questions, which continued to linger even after his return.
The New York Times reported on Thursday, citing unnamed sources, that the company’s chief technology officer, Mira Murati, had raised concerns about Altman’s leadership style to the board of directors in October, and to Altman himself in the form of a memo.
Sources told the Times that his actions contributed to the board ousting Altman.
Murati took over as interim CEO for a brief period after Altman’s departure.
The Times reported that she was not the only executive unhappy with Altman. Ilya Sutskever, co-founder and chief scientist of OpenAI, also raised issues with some board members in October, according to the report.
Some board members were worried that if they didn’t do something about Altman, Sutskever and Murati they might leave OpenAI, the Times reported.
The WilmerHale law firm is expected to soon release a report based on its investigation into what happened during Altman’s departure and return.
OpenAI, Murati and Sutskever did not immediately respond to requests for comment sent by Business Insider.
In a statement to the Times, an OpenAI spokesperson said Murati, as well as the rest of the leadership team, asked Altman to return as CEO immediately after his departure.
“The strong support of his team underscores that he is an effective CEO, open to different points of view, willing to solve complex challenges and who demonstrates concern for his team,” spokeswoman Hannah Wong told the outlet.
Murati did not respond to the Times, while Sutskever’s lawyer said it was “categorically untrue” that he had raised his concerns with the board.
On Friday, Murati posted in X a screenshot of a Slack message she sent to OpenAI staff, disputing the Times article and saying that she and Altman have a “strong and productive partnership” and that she “has had no qualms about sharing comments with him directly” .
Correction: March 8, 2024: Display copy in an earlier version of this story misstated Sam Altman’s role at OpenAI. He is the CEO, not the CTO.
Update: March 8, 2024: This story was updated with a post by Murati on X denying the Times report.