Ilya Sutskever shows her regret to fire Sam Altman, taking measures to unite the company
On Friday, Altman was ousted from his role as OpenAI’s CEO, while Brockman was relieved of his chairmanship and subsequently resigned from the company in objection to Altman’s dismissal. The statement released yesterday asserts that the board did not furnish written evidence substantiating the reasons behind their removal from their respective roles.
The letter’s publication comes after a tumultuous and remarkable weekend in Silicon Valley. Altman was ousted from his role by OpenAI’s board on Friday, with the board asserting, “he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities.” Later, Mira Murati was appointed as the interim CEO of the company.
Surprisingly, the letter was endorsed by Ilya Sutskever, the chief scientist of the company and a board member, who had previously been accused of orchestrating the boardroom coup against Altman. As of 5:10 pm ET on Monday, approximately 95% of OpenAI’s workforce, totaling 738 out of around 770 employees, had added their signatures to the letter.
In the letter, there is a demand for the reinstatement of Altman and his close associate, Greg Brockman, who is also a co-founder of OpenAI. Additionally, it calls for the resignation of the board responsible for Altman’s termination and Brockman’s removal as chair. The letter advocates the appointment of new board members to address the situation.
The employees revolted against the company, threatening to join Microsoft if Sam Altman and Greg Brockman were not reintroduced to their positions. “Your actions have made it obvious that you are incapable of overseeing OpenAl. We are unable to work for or with people who lack competence, judgement and care for our mission and employees. We, the undersigned, may choose to resign from OpenAl and join the newly announced Microsoft subsidiary run by Sam Altman and Greg Brockman,” the employees disappointedly said. “Microsoft has assured us that there are positions for all OpenAI employees at this new subsidiary should we choose to join,” They further added.
The employees are enraged by the lack of transparency and proper reasoning by the board for the removal of Sam Altman and state in the letter, “Despite many requests for specific facts for your allegations, you have never provided any written evidence.”
OpenAI’s Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever, who was blamed for turning the board against Sam and firing him, contradictorily posts on X his regret for “participation in the board’s actions,” which leaves everyone in question as to why he took that action in the first place.
I deeply regret my participation in the board’s actions. I never intended to harm OpenAI. I love everything we’ve built together and I will do everything I can to reunite the company.
— Ilya Sutskever (@ilyasut) November 20, 2023
