OpenAI CEO Sam Altman flatly denied that he’ll receive an enormous equity stake within the startup value billions of dollars as a part of a company restructuring, based on multiple reports.
Altman, 39, responded hours after a Bloomberg report on Thursday claimed OpenAI’s board was discussing giving him a 7% stake as a part of the pioneering AI company’s pivot to a for-profit entity.
Altman, who co-founded the firm, called the report that he might receive such a giant chunk “ludicrous” during an all-hands meeting with OpenAI employees in Italy, The Information reported.
The OpenAI boss reportedly added that investors were pushing for him to receive equity to make sure his interests remain aligned with the firm.
OpenAI Chairman Bret Taylor had also pushed back on the report in an earlier statement, noting the board had “discussions about whether it might be useful to the corporate and our mission to have Sam be compensated with equity, but no specific figures have been discussed nor have any decisions been made.”
OpenAI confirmed Wednesday that it was planning to restructure itself as a for-profit profit corporation, which might mean that the non-profit board of directors that has long overseen its operations will not be on top of things.
The plans have yet to be finalized, and OpenAI insisted the nonprofit “is core to our mission and can live on.”
OpenAI was originally arrange as a nonprofit in 2015 with a goal of making secure artificial general intelligence – a term referring to AI with human-level or higher cognitive abilities.
Meanwhile, the Microsoft-backed firm’s leadership stays in turmoil. Three executives, including chief technology officer Mira Murati, announced their resignations this week just because the reports a few potential restructuring surfaced.
During Thursday’s all-hands meeting, Altman was reportedly adamant that the abrupt departures weren’t related to the board’s discussions.
“Many of the stuff I saw was also just totally improper,” Altman said, based on CNBC. “But we now have been fascinated about that, our board has, for nearly a yr independently, as we take into consideration what it takes to get to our next stage.”
“But I feel that is nearly people being ready for brand spanking new chapters of their lives and a recent generation of leadership,” Altman added.
Murati, who had worked closely with Altman, said in a message to OpenAI staffers that she was “stepping away because I need to create the time and space to do my very own exploration. For now, my primary focus is doing all the pieces in my power to make sure a smooth transition, maintaining the momentum we’ve built.”
Chief research officer Bob McGrew and top researcher Barret Zoph also exited in what has been a mass exodus of OpenAI executives because the start of the yr.
Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s president and co-founder, said last month that he would take an prolonged leave of absence through the top of the yr. John Schulman, one other co-founder, left for job at OpenAI rival Anthropic.
In May, co-founder Ilya Sutskever and researcher Jan Leike after OpenAI dissolved its “Superalignment” team, which was answerable for overseeing the secure development of advanced AI.
