OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever says he will leave the startup

OpenAI
co-founder
Ilya
Sutskever
said
Tuesday
that
he’s
leaving
the


Microsoft-backed
startup.

“I
am
excited
for
what
comes
next
—
a
project
that
is
very
personally
meaningful
to
me
about
which
I
will
share
details
in
due
time,”
Sutskever
wrote
in
an

X
post
on
Tuesday.

The
departure
comes
months
after
OpenAI
went
through
a
leadership
crisis
involving
co-founder
and
CEO
Sam
Altman.

In
November,
OpenAI’s
board
said
in
a
statement
that
Altman
had
not
been
“consistently
candid
in
his
communications
with
the
board.”
The
issue
quickly
came
to
look
more
complex.

The
Wall
Street
Journal
and
other
media
outlets
reported
that
Sutskever
trained
his
focus
on
ensuring
that
artificial
intelligence
would
not
harm
humans,
while
others,
including
Altman,
were
instead
more
eager
to
push
ahead
with
delivering
new
technology.

Almost
all
of
OpenAI’s
employees
signed
an
open
letter
saying
they
would
leave
in
response
to
the
board’s
action.
Days
later,
Altman
was
back
at
the
company,
and
board
members
Helen
Toner,
Tasha
McCauley
and
Sutskever,
who
had
voted
to
oust
Altman,
were
out.
Adam
D’Angelo,
who
had
also
voted
to
push
out
Altman,
stayed
on
the
board.

When
Altman
was
asked
about
Sutskever’s
status
on
a


Zoom
call
with
reporters
at
the
time,
he
said
there
were
no
updates
to
share.
“I
love
Ilya.
…
I
hope
we
work
together
for
the
rest
of
our
careers,
my
career,
whatever,”
Altman
said.
“Nothing
to
announce
today.”

On
Tuesday,
Altman
shared
his
thoughts
on
Sutskever’s
departure.

“This
is
very
sad
to
me;
Ilya
is
easily
one
of
the
greatest
minds
of
our
generation,
a
guiding
light
of
our
field,
and
a
dear
friend,”
Altman
wrote

on
X.
“His
brilliance
and
vision
are
well
known;
his
warmth
and
compassion
are
less
well
known
but
no
less
important.”
Altman
said
research
director
Jakub
Pachocki,
who
has
been
at
OpenAI
since
2017,
will
replace
Sutskever
as
chief
scientist.

OpenAI
has
announced
new
board
members,
including
former


Salesforce
co-CEO
Bret
Taylor
and
former
Treasury
Secretary
Larry
Summers.
Microsoft
obtained
a
nonvoting
board
observer
position.

In
March,
OpenAI
announced
its
new
board
and
the
wrap-up
of
an
internal
investigation
by
U.S.
law
firm
WilmerHale
into
the
events
leading
up
to
Altman’s
ouster.
Altman
rejoined
OpenAI’s
board,
and
three
new
board
members
were
announced:
Dr.
Sue
Desmond-Hellmann,
former
CEO
of
the
Bill
and
Melinda
Gates
Foundation;
Nicole
Seligman,
former
EVP
and
global
general
counsel
of
Sony
and
president
of
Sony
Entertainment;
and
Fidji
Simo,
CEO
and
chair
of
Instacart.

The
three
new
members
will
“work
closely
with
current
board
members
Adam
D’Angelo,
Larry
Summers
and
Bret
Taylor
as
well
as
Greg,
Sam,
and
OpenAI’s
senior
management,”
according
to
a
company
release
in
March,
referencing
OpenAI
co-founder
Greg
Brockman.

News
of
Sutskever’s
departure
comes
a
day
after
OpenAI
launched
a

new
AI
model
and
desktop
version
of
ChatGPT,
along
with
an
updated
user
interface,
the
company’s
latest
effort
to
expand
use
of
its
popular
chatbot.

The
update
brings
the
GPT-4
model
to
everyone,
including
OpenAI’s
free
users,
technology
chief
Mira
Murati
said
Monday
in
a
livestreamed
event.
She
added
that
the
new
model,
GPT-4o,
is
“much
faster,”
with
improved
capabilities
in
text,
video
and
audio.

OpenAI
said
it
eventually
plans
to
allow
users
to
video
chat
with
ChatGPT.
“This
is
the
first
time
that
we
are
really
making
a
huge
step
forward
when
it
comes
to
the
ease
of
use,”
Murati
said.

In
2015,
Altman
and


Tesla
CEO
Elon
Musk,
another
OpenAI
co-founder,
wanted
Sutskever,
then
a
research
scientist
at


Google,
to
become
the
budding
startup’s
top
scientist,
according
to

the
lawsuit
Musk
filed
against
OpenAI
in
March.

“Dr.
Sutskever
went
back
and
forth
on
whether
to
leave
Google
and
join
the
project,
but
it
was
ultimately
a
call
from
Mr.
Musk
on
the
day
OpenAI,
Inc.
was
publicly
announced
that
convinced
Dr.
Sutskever
to
commit
to
joining
the
project
as
OpenAI,
Inc.’s
Chief
Scientist,”
the
legal
filing
said.