Hours after being removed by OpenAI’s board, founder Sam Altman surfaced with a cryptic post that rattled Silicon Valley.
Here’s a timeline of how Sam Altman and Greg Brockman were fired
Altman’s unexpected exit from OpenAI made international breaking news. The decision for his departure, the board announced in a blog post on Friday, stemmed from transparency issues and his apparent lack of communication.
“The board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI,” the statement read.
Both Altman and his long-time friend and now-former Chairman Greg Brockman expressed their shock and sadness over the board’s decision.
Brockman, however, dug a little deeper and provided a chronological timeline of events that led to his and Altman’s axing.
According to the former Chairman, on Thursday evening, Altman was contacted by board executive and chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, informing him of an urgent meeting scheduled for Friday at noon.
“Sam joined a Google Meet and the whole board, except Greg, was there. Ilya told Sam he was being fired and that the news was going out very soon,” Brockman revealed.
Minutes after that meeting, at approximately 12:19, Brockman received a text from Sutskever “asking for a quick call.”
“At [12:23], Ilya sent a Google Meet link. Greg was told that he was being removed from the board (but was vital to the company and would retain his role) and that Sam had been fired,” Brockman added.
Altman shakes up Silicon Valley with cryptic post
Coincidentally, Mira Murati, OpenAI’s chief technology officer, was allegedly informed of the executive shake-up on Thursday evening
Altman also shared a few words in reaction to the axing. He wrote:
“I love you all. today was a weird experience in many ways. but one unexpected one is that it has been sorta like reading your own eulogy while you’re still alive. the outpouring of love is awesome. one takeaway: go tell your friends how great you think they are,” he wrote.
However, less than 30 minutes after that post, Altman returned to the timeline with a cryptic post, suggesting he was preparing to go to war with OpenAI.
“If i start going off, the openai board should go after me for the full value of my shares,” he wrote.
