20th November 2023 – (San Francisco) In a significant shake-up at the helm, OpenAI has appointed former Twitch CEO Emmett Shear as its interim CEO, according to three sources who have spoken to Forbes. This follows a weekend of dramatic corporate manoeuvring that saw the abrupt departure of Sam Altman from the leadership position.
The Information initially broke the news of Shear’s appointment late on Sunday. In a subsequent report, Bloomberg confirmed that Ilya Sutskever, a co-founder of OpenAI, had informed the staff of Altman’s irrevocable departure.
The latest development concludes a weekend of tumultuous activity that has definitively terminated Altman’s leadership at OpenAI. Altman’s supporters, led by Microsoft and encompassing key investors and employees, had urged OpenAI’s board of directors to reinstate him. They warned that failure to do so would result in the mass resignation of OpenAI researchers and the withdrawal of Microsoft’s support.
Altman’s departure was part of a larger reshuffle that also saw the removal of Greg Brockman from the board on Friday. Following his removal, Brockman relinquished his position as president. According to two sources who spoke to Forbes earlier, both Altman and Brockman were already contemplating raising funds for a new start-up in the event that they were not reinstated.