“OpenAI Cofounder Ilya Sutskever Has Become Invisible at the Company, With His Future Uncertain, Insiders Say”, Kali Hays, Ashley Stewart, Darius Rafieyan, Shona Ghosh2023-12-08 ()⁠:

Ilya Sutskever’s art still hangs on OpenAI’s office walls even as he’s become invisible there in the wake of Sam Altman’s return…[he] has not been seen at the company’s San Francisco offices this week, according to two people familiar with the company. Business Insider spoke to 3 people familiar with Sutskever’s visibility at the company since the drama ended, plus two people familiar with those involved. They requested anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss internal matters. Their identities are known to Insider.

…“Ilya is always going to have had an important role”, one person said. “But, you know, there are a lot of other people who are picking up and taking that responsibility that historically Ilya had.” Another person said there’s some discussion happening that Sutskever will get a new title at the company, and that there’s a desire to “find a role for him.” A smiling photo posted to Twitter last Friday of Sutskever with co-founder and president Greg Brockman, who was the first to quit in solidarity with Altman, was a “clear signal that they all want to get back to work”, the person said. Still, his position at the company is “TBD”, the person added…Another person familiar described Sutskever in simple terms as someone who “thinks of himself as an AI god” and who became frustrated at “being pushed out of decisions” regarding ChatGPT-5 and plans to scale the product and company.

…One sign of the ongoing tumult with Sutskever is a Wednesday post to Twitter, his first since the photo with Brockman last week, which was deleted by Thursday. The post said: “I learned many lessons this past month. One such lesson is that the phrase ‘the beatings will continue until morale improves’ applies more often than it has any right to.” The popular phrase is often used in memes to denote the ironic cycle of low morale begetting punishment, which increases low morale. A digital drawing posted Tuesday to his Instagram page, where he only posts his art, remains up—a large face with a stern expression wearing pants and what appear to be boots.

Another sign is that Sutskever has hired his own lawyer in Alex Weingarten of Willkie Farr & Gallagher, who chairs its litigation practice, as BI previously reported. Weingarten did not respond to BI’s requests for comment on this story. He previously told us, “Ilya wants what is best for the company.” An OpenAI spokesperson did also did not respond to a request for comment.

Sutskever is a “very deep” person, emotionally and intellectually, one of the people familiar said. He’s someone who “may not seem fully present in the moment but he’s just processing things differently.” He often recommends OpenAI employees read The Gulag Archipelago, a nearly 700-page non-fiction book about the system of forced labor in the Soviet Union.

…One Microsoft insider familiar with Altman, Sutskever, and Brockman doesn’t believe the 3 can ever work well together again, particularly Sutskever and Brockman. In Silicon Valley, founders turning on one another is considered sacrilege. Likewise, some of OpenAI’s engineers who are loyal to Altman and Brockman may also find it difficult to work with Sutskever because of his role in the ouster, a former employee said. “Once trust is broken”, the former staffer said, “it cannot be regained.” [and vice-versa]