Ilya Sutskever, the cofounder of OpenAI who had a starring role in CEO Sam Altman’s ouster last week, now says he “deeply regrets” his actions—and is even threatening to quit.
Silicon Valley has been captivated by the shocking Friday dismissal and quick comeback of Altman, who was summarily sacked by the board nearly a year to the day after the launch of ChatGPT, precipitating a staff exodus and a standoff between OpenAI’s board and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, the startup’s biggest strategic shareholder.
“I deeply regret my participation in the board’s actions. I never intended to harm OpenAI,” Sutskever wrote on Monday, breaking his silence on the matter. “I love everything we’ve built together and I will do everything I can to reunite the company.”
As chief scientist and a member of OpenAI’s board, Sutskever was believed to play the role of board ringleader, exploiting a strategic disagreement over how quickly to commercialize generative AI. According to anonymous sources who spoke to Bloomberg, Altman and Sutskever were at odds about how fast to move to commercialize AI, and how to reduce possible public harm; this came to a head during this month’s first-ever developer day.
Sutskever also signed on to a separate letter, posted by veteran tech journalist Kara Swisher, threatening to quit and join Microsoft if the board did not resign. More than 500 of OpenAI’s 700 employees signed on to the letter, which accused board members of jeopardizing the nonprofit’s mission.
Firing Altman and Brockman “has undermined our mission and our company,” the letter said. “Your conduct has made it clear you do not have the competence to oversee OpenAI.”
“We are unable to work for or with people that lack competence, judgement and care for our mission and employees,” the letter said. “Microsoft has assured us that there are positions for all OpenAI employees at this new subsidiary should we choose to join. We will take this step imminently unless all current board members resign.”
The letter also accused the board of failing to provide evidence for Altman’s alleged wrongdoing, negotiating in bad faith, and being willing to destroy the company.
The letter’s over 500 signatories, which included CEO Mira Murati—OpenAI’s chief technology officer and briefly its interim CEO over the weekend—called for a return of Altman and cofounder Greg Brockman.
Sutskever is a luminary in the field, having been one of three scientists behind the 2012 development of the AlexNet neural network, viewed as AI’s Big Bang Moment.
Eight years ago he had been recruited by Elon Musk to help found OpenAI. Its charter promised to pursue the development of safe artificial general intelligence. AGI could have massive ramifications for humanity, a major concern shared by both men.
But last November’s unveiling of ChatGPT unleashed a hype comparable only with the internet revolution, creating a gold rush that prompted Altman to focus on fundraising and commercialization rather than strict research.
