Unlock Editor's Digest for free
FT editor Roula Khalaf has chosen her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.
OpenAI co-founder and chief scientist Ilya Satskeva has quit the artificial intelligence startup, six months after he opposed CEO Sam Altman in a surprise coup that ultimately failed. .
“After almost 10 years, I have made the decision to leave OpenAI,” Sutskever wrote in a post on social media site X on Tuesday. “The company's trajectory to date has been nothing short of miraculous, and we are confident that OpenAI will build his AGI.” [artificial general intelligence] It's safe and beneficial. ”
The San Francisco startup is valued at more than $80 billion, thanks to a major partnership with Microsoft. OpenAI and its main AI competitor Google released cutting-edge updates to their models this week, pushing the technology frontier.
Sutskever is considered one of the leading researchers in deep learning and artificial intelligence, and is an early pioneer of OpenAI in the early field of generative AI, the development of tools that can generate multimedia responses to human queries. is considered an important factor in its superiority.
Hours after the announcement, Jan Reike, another senior researcher at OpenAI, wrote of X: “I have resigned.” He worked closely with Sutskever on “coordination,” or ensuring that AI systems work in human interest when they exceed human-level intelligence. OpenAI did not immediately confirm Reich's resignation.
Mr. Sutskever was one of the key actors in the unsuccessful coup in November, which along with other members of the OpenAI board ousted Mr. Altman as chief executive and replaced fellow co-founder Greg. Mr. Brockman was removed from the board of directors.
The move against Altman stems from the trust between the company's leadership and its board of directors, a nonprofit organization tasked with ensuring AI is developed in a way that “benefit[s]all of humanity.” It occurred after the collapse.
As the company's employees and investors rallied to Mr. Altman's side, Mr. Sutskever and other members of the board reversed course and replaced Mr. Altman as chief executive just four days after firing him. I was reinstated. A subsequent investigation found that Mr. Altman's termination was unjustified.
“I deeply regret participating in the board’s actions,” Sutskever wrote at the time. “I never intended to harm OpenAI. I love everything we've built together, and I intend to do everything I can to reunite the company.”
The lead scientist, a prominent figure within the company who was instrumental in developing the ChatGPT chatbot and whose responsibilities included ensuring the safe development of AI tools, has since retreated from public view.
Sutskever wasn't in the spotlight when OpenAI announced updates to its flagship model on Monday.
In announcing his departure on Tuesday in X, Altman described Sutskever as “a truly remarkable genius.”
“This is very sad for me. Ilya is without a doubt one of the greatest minds of our generation, a leader in our field, and a dear friend… Without him, OpenAI would be lost. It would not have been what it is now,” he writes.
Sutskever's mentor Jakub Pachocki, who has been working on OpenAI's research team since 2017, will replace him as principal investigator.
Sutskever hinted on Tuesday that he would launch a new project soon, although he did not provide details.
Additional reporting by Christina Criddle in London
