OpenAI’s board has hired former Twitch CEO and co-founder Emmet Shear as the AI startup’s new interim CEO. The move comes amid calls from the company’s investors, including Microsoft, Thrive Capital and Global Management, to reinstate Sam Altman as the company’s CEO. Altman himself indicated that today is the last time he will negotiate with the OpenAI board.
Also Read| Sam Altman is not returning as CEO of OpenAI: Report
A memo from OpenAI’s board sent to employees and seen by the New York Times said, “The board stands firmly by its decision as the only way to advance and defend OpenAI’s mission.”
“Simply put, Sam’s behavior and lack of transparency in his interactions with the board undermined the board’s ability to effectively oversee the company in the manner it was mandated to do,” the memo added.
Who is Emmett Shear?
Shear was the CEO of Twitch (a company he co-founded, but which was later acquired by Amazon in 2014) until March of this year, where he spent about a decade turning the company from Justin.tv into the most successful video game streaming service. in the world He was later appointed as a part-time corporate advisor at Y Combinator, a startup run by Sam Altman, from 2014 to 2019.
According to a Bloomberg report, Shear has ties to the effective altruism movement, which is skeptical of the risks posed by artificial intelligence. Effective altruists have imagined various scenarios in which powerful AI systems could be used to cause serious and widespread harm.
Speaking about the possibility of hyperintelligent AI breaking away from human control, Shear said (as quoted by the Wall Street Journal): (as quoted by the Wall Street Journal), “It’s like a universe-destroying bomb… It’s bad in a way. that makes global warming a non-issue.”
Microsoft has committed to a partnership with OpenAI:
Microsoft’s Satya Nadella said he was “delighted to meet” Emmett Shear, shortly after he was appointed as the new interim CEO of OpenAI. Nadella wrote on X (formerly Twitter), “We remain committed to our partnership with OpenAI and have confidence in our product roadmap, our ability to continue to innovate with everything we announced at Microsoft Ignite, and to continue to support our customers and partners. We look forward to to know and work with Emmett Shear and the new OAI leadership team. And we are extremely excited to share the news that Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, along with colleagues, will join Microsoft to lead a new advanced AI research team. We look forward to moving quickly to provide them with the means necessary for their success.”
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Updated: 20 Nov 2023, 13:33 IST