OpenAI’s co-founder and head scientist Ilya Sutskever has decided to depart from OpenAI which created the AI chatbot, ChatGPT, following the notorious unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the company’s CEO Sam Altman.
Sutskever, who initially sought to oust Altman but later reversed his decision, has formally exited the company, as reported by The Verge.
Both Sutskever, aged 37 and Altman, aged 39, utilized social media to declare the separation between the company and its chief scientist.
In a message on X, Sutskever announced: “Following nearly ten years, I’ve decided to depart from OpenAI.”
Further in his message, he stated: “I’m eager for what lies ahead — a venture that holds personal significance to me, the details of which I will reveal when the time is right.”
Concurrently, Altman declared on X: “Ilya and OpenAI will be parting ways. This is deeply saddening to me; Ilya is undoubtedly one of the brightest minds of our era, a beacon in our field, and a cherished friend.”
He continued: “Despite him moving on to work on something of personal significance, I remain eternally thankful for his contributions here and am dedicated to completing the mission we embarked on together.”
Altman also appointed the company’s research director, Jakub Pachocki, as the new chief scientist of OpenAI.
As per an OpenAI press statement, Pachocki has been “leading the development of GPT-4 and OpenAI Five, and conducting fundamental research in large-scale RL and deep learning optimization.”
In addition, The Verge verified that Jan Leike — who headed the Superalignment team established by Sutskever to “guide and manage” more potent AI — has also stepped down from OpenAI.
His position will be filled by John Schulman, another co-founder of OpenAI who supported Altman during the unsuccessful board coup last year.
