Sam Altman explains what happened during the past few weeks at OpenAI.
"As we get closer and closer to superintelligence, everybody involved gets more stressed and more anxious."
To the Verge he said:
"It took me a few minutes to snap out of it and overcome the ego and emotions to then be like, ‘Yeah, of course, I want to do that,’” he said during a phone conversation on Wednesday. “Obviously, I really loved the company and had poured my life force into this for the last four and a half years full time, but really longer than that with most of my time. And we’re making such great progress on the mission that I care so much about, the mission of safe and beneficial AGI.”
After a five-day boardroom turmoil, Altman officially resumed his role as CEO of OpenAI on Wednesday. Microsoft, the company’s largest investor, is set to take a nonvoting board seat as part of the changes.
During our interview, Altman consistently avoided addressing the primary question on everyone’s minds: why he was fired in the first place. OpenAI’s new board, led by Bret Taylor, is initiating an independent investigation to determine the events leading to Altman's dismissal. “I very much welcome that,” Altman expressed during our conversation.
