“The Fear and Tension That Led to Sam Altman’s Ouster at OpenAI: The Departure of the High-Profile Boss of the San Francisco Company Drew Attention to a Philosophical Rift among the People Building New AI Systems”, 2023-11-18 (; backlinks):
…But that success raised tensions inside the company. Ilya Sutskever, a respected AI researcher who co-founded OpenAI with Sam Altman and 9 other people, was increasingly worried that OpenAI’s technology could be dangerous and that Mr. Altman was not paying enough attention to that risk, according to 3 people familiar with his thinking. Mr. Sutskever, a member of the company’s board of directors, also objected to what he saw as his diminished role inside the company, according to two of the people.
…In recent weeks, Jakub Pachocki, who helped oversee GPT-4, the technology at the heart of ChatGPT, was promoted to director of research at the company. After previously occupying a position below Mr. Sutskever, he was elevated to a position alongside Mr. Sutskever, according to two people familiar with the matter. [See Altman & Sutskever praise; cf. μ-parameterization.]
Mr. Pachocki quit the company late on Friday, the people said, soon after Mr. Brockman. Earlier in the day, OpenAI said Mr. Brockman had been removed as chairman of the board and would report to the new interim chief executive, Mira Murati. Other allies of Mr. Altman—including two senior researchers, Szymon Sidor and Aleksander Madry—have also left the company.