OpenAI fires CEO Sam Altman day after APEC panel in San Francisco

The OpenAI board of directors has fired CEO and co-founder Sam Altman, the company announced in a blog post Friday.

The announcement comes just a day after Altman spoke on behalf of the company in a panel at the San Francisco-hosted Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference. Since OpenAI released ChatGPT last November under Altman’s guidance, the longtime entrepreneur has become an ascendant tech leader, including meeting with lawmakers in Washington, going on media tours and generally evangelizing for artificial intelligence.

OpenAI’s board, according to the post, went through a “deliberative review process” before deciding to oust Altman over concerns that he was not “consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities.” 

The company originally said in its post that Greg Brockman, the OpenAI’s president and co-founder, would be stepping down from the company’s board and staying at the firm. But Brockman posted on X on Friday afternoon, “based on today’s news, i quit.”

Altman’s firing is effective immediately. Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati will step in as interim CEO, the company said. 

“The board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI,” the post said of Altman. OpenAI’s board includes Quora CEO Adam D’Angelo, robotics entrepreneur Tasha McCauley, the Georgetown Center for Security and Emerging Technology’s Helen Toner and OpenAI’s chief scientist, Ilya Sutskever.

“We are grateful for Sam’s many contributions to the founding and growth of OpenAI,” the board said in a written statement included in the post. “At the same time, we believe new leadership is necessary as we move forward.”

Altman has often speculated about AI’s far-off future, including in his Thursday appearance at APEC, per the San Francisco Standard. Now, he will have to watch the firm he founded in 2015 from the sidelines.

This breaking news story has been updated.

Hear of anything happening at OpenAI or another tech company? Contact tech reporter Stephen Council securely at [email protected] or on Signal at 628-204-5452.