'Today Was A Weird Experience In Many Ways': Sam Altman REACTS After OpenAI Fires Him

After ChatGPT maker OpenAI’s board fired him as its CEO, Sam Altman in a statement said it was a weird experience in many ways but it is also like reading your own eulogy while you are still alive. “The outpouring of love is awesome.”

In a post on X after ousting, Sam Altman said, “I love you all. Today was a weird experience in many ways. but one unexpected one is that it has been sorta like reading your own eulogy while you’re still alive. The outpouring of love is awesome. One takeaway: Go tell your friends how great you think they are.”

In another post, he said, “If I start going off, the OpenAI board should go after me for the full value of my shares.”

OpenAI’s board sacked Sam Altman as the company’s CEO and director on Friday.

In a statement, the company said, “Altman’s departure follows a deliberative review process by the board, which concluded that he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities. The board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI.”

Joining Altman, OpenAI President and co-founder Greg Brockman in a post on X said Sam and he were “shocked and saddened by what the board did today”.

Sharing the timeline of events at the board, Brockman said here is what we know:

– Last night, Sam got a text from Ilya asking to talk at noon Friday. Sam joined a Google Meet and the whole board, except Greg, was there. Ilya told Sam he was being fired and that the news was going out very soon.

– At 12:19pm, Greg got a text from Ilya asking for a quick call. At 12:23pm, Ilya sent a Google Meet link. Greg was told that he was being removed from the board (but was vital to the company and would retain his role) and that Sam had been fired. Around the same time, OpenAI published a blog post.

– As far as we know, the management team was made aware of this shortly after, other than Mira who found out the night prior.

The outpouring of support has been really nice; thank you, but please don’t spend any time being concerned. We will be fine. Greater things coming soon.

Meanwhile, responding to a post by Altman, Ashneer Grover said, “Dude – fight on. The Board has tried to go after my shares – got nothing – so they are now going after me and my family through criminal cases. It’s a long fight! With you !!”