OpenAI’s chief technology officer wrote a memo critical of boss Sam Altman’s management style to the company’s board of directors — setting off a chain of events that led to his ouster, according to a report.
Mira Muratti expressed her concerns directly to Altman before sharing her concerns about his leadership style with the company’s board, according to The New York Times.
Muratti told board members that Altman manipulated executives to get what he wanted.
Altman would tell people what they wanted to hear in order to charm them into agreeing with his decisions, Muratti reportedly told OpenAI board members.
But if those executives don’t buy into his plans or take too long to make up their minds, Altman will try to undermine their confidence, Muratti told the board.
Muratti’s doubts about Altman were backed up by OpenAI co-founder and chief scientist Ilya Sutzkever, who accused the CEO of what he believed to be manipulative behavior, the Times reported.
Both Muratti and Sutzkever told the board of their tumultuous relationship with Altman, who was fired in late November — only to be reinstated days later after winning a power struggle that saw the board replaced.
The board was concerned that if they didn’t take action against Altman, both Muratti and Sutzkever would leave the company and take loyalists with them — leading to an exodus of key employees, according to the Times.
The two executives expressed support for Altman’s reinstatement as CEO, despite their claim that he had created a toxic work environment at the company and that he did not tolerate dissent from subordinates.
WilmerHale, the high-powered Manhattan law firm, is conducting an independent investigation into OpenAI’s handling of Altman’s firing.
Alex Weingarten, an attorney representing Sutskever, told the Times that any suggestion that his client approached the board to complain about Altman is “categorically false.”
After the Times published its story Thursday, Muratti told OpenAI employees that she and Altman “have a strong and productive partnership, and I have not been shy about sharing direct feedback with him.”
Muratti told staff that “when individual board members contacted me directly for feedback about Sam, I provided it — all the feedback Sam already knew.”
She said her communications with the board regarding Altman did not mean she was “responsible for or supportive of the actions of the old board.”
Altman’s firing in November sparked a crisis at the company, whose hugely popular ChatGPT bot had boosted its value significantly. Today, OpenAI is estimated to be worth more than $80 billion.
More than 700 of the firm’s employees have threatened to walk out en masse in protest at the layoff. Microsoft, a key investor in OpenAI, hired Altman and company co-founder Greg Brockman.
The Windows maker also invited any OpenAI employees to join the company.
Sutskever was one of six people who made up the board of directors at the time of Altman’s firing.
When Altman was reinstated, the board was replaced by an interim body of three directors: former Salesforce co-CEO Brett Taylor, who chaired Twitter’s board before Elon Musk took over the platform last year; former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers; and Quora CEO Adam D’Angelo.
D’Angelo is the only member of the previous board who remains.
The Post sought comment from OpenAI, Murati, Sutskever and Altman.
