OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is currently leading one of the biggest AI startups in the world, but less than six months ago, he was at the center of a "palace coup."
Altman has now revealed exactly where he was when he got fired as OpenAI's CEO in November.
What Happened: During a recent episode of the "All In Podcast," Altman shed light on his firing and rehiring at OpenAI and everything that happened in between.
"I was in a hotel room in Vegas for F1 weekend," Altman said when he was asked about his whereabouts during the firing.
Altman and then OpenAI president, Greg Brockman, were fired from the company over a Google Meet call.
"Everything went crazy. My phone was like, unusable. It was just a non-stop vibrating thing of like text messages, calls."
Altman said he then spent a while in the hotel room, trying to understand what just happened. "I was confused beyond belief."
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He recovered later, thinking he will just do "AGI research" someplace else. However, a few board members had a conversation with Altman about bringing him back, setting in motion "more days of craziness."
Amid this, OpenAI's board appointed Mira Murati, the company's CTO, as the interim CEO. A few days later, former Twitch CEO Emmett Shear was appointed as the new interim CEO before Altman's eventual comeback.
Why It Matters: While Altman has spoken up about the OpenAI saga before, this gives a closer glimpse into what he was going through when it happened. He has previously equated this incident to the trauma following his father's death.
After Altman's brief ouster, he’s now back at the top of the company with a revamped board of directors.
Helen Toner, another board member, was part of Sutskever’s bid to remove Altman. While Toner is out of the company, Sutskever is still a part of it.
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