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🔥 Who is Sam Altman?

As OpenAI's CEO is pushed out, who is he?

Azeem Azhar

Nov 17, 2023

Sam Altman is out at OpenAI, according to this heavily lawyered statement:

Mr. Altman’s departure follows a deliberative review process by the board, which concluded that he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities. The board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI.

So who is Sam Altman?

I’ve spoken to Sam a few times in the last few years, and it might be a good time to revisit those discussions. I’d generally found him to be candid, thoughtful and openish…. within the constraints of being the boss of a closely-held firm.

I spoke to him back in 2020 just after GPT-3 was released. Take a listen to our discussion here.

Then in May this year, I spoke to him again for my TV series, Exponentially. Give this a watch. Perhaps these conversations will help you make up your mind.

In the TV discussion, I asked the question: “Can we trust Sam Altman?” It turned out that his board couldn’t.

cheers,
A

2 Comments

Paul Baier

Writes GAI Insights - Paul Baier

Nov 18

I suspect a really big issue. (Twitter rumors are that he secretly asked OpenAI to support Israel (he’s Jewish) or he stole IP). I have a hard time of think of something else that merits this public hanging (fraud, etc. can all be hidden in “spend time with family” and a succession plan)

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