The Real Story Behind Sam Altman’s Firing From OpenAI
Importance: 3 | # | openai, sama, drama, zvi
This account is based on interviews with dozens of people who lived through one of the wildest business stories of all time—the sudden firing of the CEO of the hottest tech company on the planet, and his reinstatement days later.
In late September, Sutskever emailed Toner asking if she had time to talk the next day. This was highly unusual. They didn’t really talk outside of board meetings. On the phone, Sutskever hemmed and hawed before coughing up a clue: “You should talk to Mira more.”
Sutskever had been waiting for a moment when the board dynamics would allow for Altman to be replaced as CEO.
Treading carefully, in terror of being found out by Altman, Murati and Sutskever spoke to each of the independent board members over the next few weeks. It was only because they were in daily touch that the independent directors caught Altman in a particularly egregious lie.
Zvi's commentary here.