These are decisive hours for the future of OpenAI. Decisive because 95% of employees are ready to leave the company if the board of directors does not resign, opening the door to the return of CEO and founder Sam Altman. And moreover, as many of them have tweeted in recent hours, «OpenAI does not exist without its people». Thus the flagship company of generative Artificial Intelligence, the one that was the first to launch a chatbot capable of interacting with human beings by putting itself on their level, risks definitively imploding, also casting serious doubts on the future of ChatGPT.
The board has not yet responded to the letter signed by over 700 employees (out of a total of approximately 770), even if an initial optimism is starting to filter through, with the board open to the possible return of Altman. While waiting for official positions, however, the stalemate has in fact transformed into hours of authentic passion. Also and above all for Microsoft, which on the one hand continues to underline its desire to continue to collaborate closely with OpenAI, and on the other is ready to hire all those who leave, placing them in the new team dedicated to Artificial Intelligence entrusted to Sam Altman . Just last night, Kevin Scott (Microsoft’s chief technology officer) reiterated that OpenAI employees will have jobs waiting for them at his company if they decide to leave.
Microsoft protects itself
Microsoft’s influence in this matter is by no means secondary, therefore. And it is above all a business matter. In fact, Microsoft has invested around 13 billion dollars in OpenAI in the last year, becoming a 49% shareholder of the company. For this reason, Altman’s ouster could have (and perhaps still can) impact Microsoft itself. Hence Nadella’s choice to use the double path: that of the parachute (immediately rehiring Altman and entrusting him with the direction of a new AI team), and that of cold blood (when he says that Microsoft can’t wait to collaborate with new CEO of OpenAI). Microsoft, in essence, by protecting OpenAI is protecting itself and its leadership in the world of Artificial Intelligence. A fundamental detail.
In short, everything revolves around Altman’s return. And it must be said that it is not just OpenAI employees who are pushing in this direction. The impetus for this solution is also coming from other OpenAI investors, led by Thrive Capital, who are actively trying to orchestrate the CEO’s return. Without forgetting that the CEO of Microsoft himself, Satya Nadella, declared in an interview with Bloomberg Television that not even he would oppose Altman’s reinstatement in OpenAI. Because after all, Nadella is interested in safeguarding the OpenAI brand, which then means safeguarding Microsoft’s business in Artificial Intelligence.
Glimmers of stitching
At the heart of the division between Altman and the OpenAI board appears to be a very complicated issue: deciding whether Artificial Intelligence should be a business opportunity or a potentially dangerous technology that must be controlled and monitored at every step. But also a more strictly business affair, linked to the chips to run such powerful algorithms.
2023-11-21 19:52:30
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