OpenAI Co-Founder & Chief Scientist Steps Down

Ilya Sutskever, who co-founded OpenAI and served as the chief scientist of its commercial division, has announced his departure from the company. Sutskever, who was instrumental in briefly removing CEO Sam Altman from his position last year, has decided to leave the artificial intelligence company after nearly a decade.

Sutskever's Departure

In a post dated May 14, Sutskever announced his decision to leave OpenAI to pursue a project that holds personal significance for him. He expressed his confidence in the company's ability to develop an artificial general intelligence (AGI) that would be both safe and beneficial. Altman confirmed Sutskever's departure in a separate post, stating that the former chief scientist was leaving to work on a personally meaningful project.

New Chief Scientist Announced

OpenAI has named Jakub Pachocki as its new chief scientist. Pachocki has been with the company since 2017, serving as the director of research and leading the development of its GPT-4 large language model.

Sutskever's Role in CEO Ouster

Sutskever was part of a group that successfully pushed for Altman's removal as CEO in November of the previous year. However, Altman was later reinstated following backlash from employees. At the time, Sutskever, who was one of six board members for the nonprofit OpenAI, Inc., told employees that Altman's removal was a necessary step to ensure that OpenAI developed an AGI that would benefit all of humanity. Sutskever later expressed regret for his involvement in the board's actions in a post dated November. After Altman was reinstated, Sutskever resigned from OpenAI's board, and his role within the company since then has been unclear, sparking speculation about his position at OpenAI.

AGI Development

AGI refers to a theoretical form of artificial intelligence that could perform tasks at the same level or better than a human. Altman has stated that he is willing to spend as much as it takes, even $50 billion a year, to develop an AGI. Others, like Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, have advocated for a more cautious approach to developing a potentially intelligent AI due to the unknown risks it may pose.

Conclusion

The departure of Ilya Sutskever from OpenAI marks a significant change in the company's leadership. His decision to leave to pursue a personally meaningful project leaves many questions about the future direction of the company. With the development of AGI being a primary focus for OpenAI, it will be interesting to see how this change in leadership influences the company's approach and progress in this area. What are your thoughts on this development? Feel free to share this article with your friends and discuss it. Don't forget to sign up for the Daily Briefing, which is delivered every day at 6pm.