OpenAI Drama Is Literally Causing Sleepless Nights For San Francisco Residents, Health Startup Data Shows

Last Friday, OpenAI shocked the AI world when it fired its co-founder and long-time CEO Sam Altman. As this drama continued with several twists and turns, including OpenAI rivals taking advantage of the situation, it has now been reported that people in San Francisco have experienced a noticeable decrease in sleep.

What Happened: On Monday, Matteo Franceschetti, the CEO of EightSleep, a company specializing in sleep products, including an app that monitors sleep patterns, took to X (formerly Twitter) and said, “We checked our data and last night, SF saw a spike in low-quality sleep. There was a 27% increase in people getting under 5 hours of sleep.”

The post was first spotted by Quartz. 

See Also: ‘We Have A Plan’: Leaked OpenAI Memo Calls For Unity Even As Over 95% Employees Want Sam Altman Back

ChatGPT-parent OpenAI, founded in 2015 by the likes of Altman, Elon Musk, Greg Brockman, and others, has headquarters in San Francisco. The company released ChatGPT in November last year, and within 64 days, this AI-powered platform had over 100 million users.  

As per the Quartz report, while it is typical for startup workers in the SF region to work during the wee hours, it is also important to note that people had many expectations from OpenAI, given its impact on the development of generative AI. 

Why It’s Important: The incredibly high-voltage drama that started on Friday may finally come to an end soon as the ChatGPT parent has announced that they have agreed “in principle for Sam Altman to return to OpenAI as CEO.” 

The drama, which started with the OpenAI board firing Altman, Brockman resigning in protest, Microsoft hiring both for its new AI venture and then OpenAI employees threatening mass exodus unless the board gets replaced and reinstates both co-founders, had the tech world holding its breath. 

The high-fever situation escalated to a point where more than 95% of OpenAI employees threatened to quit and join Altman at Microsoft. On the other hand, the board hired former Twitch CEO Emmett Shear as the interim CEO of OpenAI, who dismissed reports that his predecessor was fired from the position due to AI safety concerns. 

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Read Next: 747 Of 770 OpenAI Employees, Including The One Who Fired Him, Ask The Board To Resign And Bring Back Sam Altman