Ilya Sutskever, the co-founder and former chief scientist of OpenAI, has decided to leave the ChatGPT dedveloper after a tumultuous period marked by internal disputes and high-level management changes.
The New York Times reports that in November, Sutskever joined other board members to force out CEO Sam Altman in a surprising move. Altman, a prominent figure in the tech industry, was reinstated five days later as the discord resolved. Sutskever, however, never returned to work after the board reaappointment. In a departure announcement, OpenAI stated that Sutskever had been “instrumental” to the company’s progress.
Sam Altman, chief executive officer of OpenAI Inc., speaks with members of the media during the Allen & Co. Media and Technology Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, US, on Wednesday, July 12, 2023. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Sutskever, a renowned figure in the field of AI research, had been part of a breakthrough involving neural networks during his time as a graduate student at the University of Toronto. He joined forces with Elon Musk and others in founding OpenAI in 2015, as an AI research and development nonprofit. The company has been a pioneer in the field, developing technologies such as the well-known ChatGPT chatbot.
The advent of ChatGPT last year was followed by a rush of attention to the potential of generative AI, capable of generating text, images, and videos autonomously. OpenAI, under Altman’s leadership, is gearing up for the next era of digital assistants, internet search, and email programs, aiming to reshape these common tech tools.
In an interview, Altman expressed his emotion over Sutskever’s departure, noting Sutskever’s integral roles in both the founding and shaping of the company. For his part, Sutskever expressed confidence in OpenAI’s future, stating he was leaving to start a new project still shrouded in mystery.
With Sutskever’s departure, Jakub Pachocki, a key OpenAI researcher, takes over the mantle of Chief Scientist at the company, now valued at over $80 billion following a recent fundraising effort.
On Monday, OpenAI unveiled a new version of its ChatGPT chatbot that can receive and process voice commands, images, and videos. This development puts them in the race towards the new wave of assistant technology, alongside tech giants Google and Apple.
Read more at the New York Times here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
