OpenAI Co-Founders Schulman and Brockman Step Back

🌈 Abstract

The article discusses the departure of two key figures from OpenAI, the artificial intelligence research company. Greg Brockman, the president of OpenAI, is taking a leave of absence until the end of the year, while John Schulman, a researcher and co-founder, is leaving to join rival startup Anthropic. The article also mentions other recent management changes at OpenAI, including the departure of the vice president of product and members of the company's safety teams. The article highlights the significant shift in the leadership and composition of the original founding team at OpenAI.

🙋 Q&A

[01] Departures from OpenAI

1. What are the key departures from OpenAI mentioned in the article?

• Greg Brockman, the president of OpenAI, is taking a leave of absence until the end of the year
• John Schulman, a researcher and co-founder of OpenAI, is leaving to join rival startup Anthropic
• Peter Deng, the vice president of product, has also left the company in recent months
• Several members of OpenAI's safety teams have exited the company earlier this year

2. How do these departures impact the leadership and composition of the original founding team at OpenAI?

• With the absence of Brockman and Schulman, only two members of OpenAI's original founding team remain: Wojciech Zaremba and Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman
• The company looks significantly different than it did a year ago and from when it launched in 2015, indicating a major shift in the leadership and composition of the founding team

3. What is the significance of Brockman and Schulman's departures?

• Brockman was a key ally of CEO Sam Altman and quit in protest after Altman was briefly ousted last year
• Schulman was a research scientist at the company focused on training its AI models and was hailed as the architect of ChatGPT, OpenAI's popular chatbot

[02] Reasons for Departures

1. What are the reasons given for Brockman and Schulman's departures from OpenAI?

• Brockman stated that his leave would be his first chance to relax since the company's founding
• Schulman said he is leaving to focus on safety at Anthropic, but he clarified that concerns around that issue did not drive his decision to quit

2. How does Schulman's departure relate to AI safety research at OpenAI?

• Schulman stated that he is not leaving due to a lack of support for alignment research (aligning AI with humans' interests) at OpenAI
• The company's leaders have been "very committed to investing in this area," according to Schulman

3. How does Schulman's contribution to ChatGPT at OpenAI compare to the larger team's work?

• Schulman said he gets "too much credit" for the development of ChatGPT and cited the work of the larger team at OpenAI