The departure of two OpenAI executives is intriguing, and once again raises questions about its management. A few months after the departure and tumultuous return of Sam Altman at the head of the company, some even see it as a sign that OpenAI does not master its technology.
“ After almost a decade, I made the decision to leave OpenAI. » The announcement on May 15, 2024 by Ilya Sutskever, one of the company's co-founders and its scientific director, took the world of artificial intelligence by surprise. His departure is all the more disconcerting since Ilya Sutskever had participated, a few months ago, in one of the most chaotic episodes in the company's history: the attempted ouster of Sam Altman, its CEO. .
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Today it seems to indicate in his message published on (ex-Twitter) that he leaves on good terms with the teams. “ The company's trajectory has been nothing short of miraculous, and I am confident that OpenAI will build an (artificial general intelligence) that is both safe and beneficial (…). It was an honor and privilege to work together, and I will miss everyone very much. »
However, his departure raises many questions, especially since he is not the only one to leave OpenAI: Jan Leike, one of the company's executives, also announced that it had resigned on May 15, 2024. On social media, many observers of the world of artificial intelligence are wondering what the two saw that could have caused them to leave — and are resurrecting old theories that emerged when Sam Altman left.
Many rumors about OpenAI
Ilya Sutskever was one of the pillars and co-founders of OpenAI, along with Sam Altman and other company executives. He held the position of scientific director, a critical role which notably led him to work with the OpenAI “Superalignment” team. “Superalignment” is a crucial concept for the security of artificial intelligence, which aims to prevent the negative consequences of the singularity, the moment when an AI would have capabilities greater than that of humans: it is both the Grail for researchers in artificial intelligence, but also a moment which could be a turning point for the development of humanity.
OpenAI's Superalignment team was particularly working on developing tools that would make it possible to control super-powerful artificial intelligence, in order to ensure that it continues to meet the needs of humanity. This team was also co-led by Jan Leike, the other OpenAI employee who announced his resignation on May 15, in a very laconic message on X.
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The announcement of the departure of these two employees immediately alerted observers in the industry, but above all, brought back doubts about the management of the company. Indeed, at the end of 2023, Ilya Sutskever was part of the group that organized the departure of Sam Altman from the head of the company. On November 17, 2023, it was even he who had personally informed the CEO that he had been dismissed from his position. Ilya Sutskever nevertheless quickly regretted his action, and signed, with nearly 90% of OpenAI employees, a petition demanding his return.
Sam Altman was finally reinstated at the head of OpenAI, but rumors still circulated about the reasons which motivated his ouster by the board of directors. Sam Altman had thus been accused of not paying enough attention to the security standards deployed, and above all, of having launched the development of Q*, an artificial intelligence which would have been capable of reasoning like a human. The rumors about Q* were quickly dismissed as nonsense, but the sudden departure of Ilya Sutskever and Jan Leike brought rumors to the surface again.
On X, many of them wonder what the two engineers saw that could have pushed them to leave. “ That's not good. There is not even a word to say diplomatically that OpenAI is in good hands. What did Jan see? », asks an Internet user on a publication accompanied by an image of red flags.
For the moment, OpenAI has only communicated on the departure of Ilya Sutskever. Sam Altman published a long message onexplaining that the situation made him “ very sad “. “ Ilya is easily one of the greatest minds of our generation, a guide in our field and a dear friend “, he also added. OpenAI clarified in A press release that Ilya would be replaced by Jakub Pachocki, who until then held the position of director of research, and had overseen the development of GPT-4 and research into AI learning. Jan Leike's departure has not been publicly commented on, and it is unclear who will replace him.