OpenAI President and co-founder Greg Brockman announced on X Friday evening that he is stepping down from his post just hours after the company’s CEO Sam Altman was ousted by the board.
“I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve collectively built since our humble beginnings in my apartment 8 years ago,” Brockman responded to Altman’s departure announcement. “We’ve weathered challenging and rewarding times together, achieving so much despite numerous reasons it might not have been possible. However, given the developments today, I’ve decided to resign. Sincerely wishing you all the best. I maintain my belief in the mission of developing safe AGI for the benefit of all humanity.”
Earlier on Friday, OpenAI’s board publicly expressed a lack of “confidence” in Altman’s leadership, citing concerns about his consistency in communication transparency. on X Friday evening
“I cherished my time at OpenAI. It was a transformative experience for me personally, and hopefully, for the world in some small way. Above all, I cherished collaborating with such talented individuals,” Altman shared on X. “I’ll share more about what’s next later.”
Brockman detailed the sequence of events on Friday evening, expressing that both he and Altman were “shocked and saddened” by the board’s decision. According to Brockman, Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI’s chief scientist and a board member, reached out to Altman on Thursday, requesting a meeting on Friday at noon. During the meeting, Sutskever reportedly informed Altman that he was being terminated, as mentioned in Brockman’s tweet. Subsequently, Brockman was also informed that he would no longer be a part of the board of directors.