OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has reportedly consolidated his power at the tech company that briefly fired him last fall by striking a deal with Apple Inc. to build artificial intelligence into its products.
The 39-year-old tech mogul has removed rivals from the company’s board of directors and is pushing ahead with a plan to reform the nonprofit organization.
Altman hopes the deal with Apple will bring the company closer to its goal of one day replacing Google as the search partner for Apple’s Safari Web browser. According to The Information.
Altman’s ambitions extend beyond OpenAI.
He is working on building several factories to manufacture AI chips.
Altman is also teaming up with former Apple designer Jony Ive to develop AI-powered personal devices.
But Altman’s plan faces potential obstacles.
Microsoft, which has invested billions of dollars in OpenAI, is reportedly concerned about how the Apple deal will affect its own AI ambitions.
According to The Information, Altman recently met with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to discuss the company’s concerns.
Altman has also been at odds with some employees who have openly questioned his efforts to implement safeguards and mitigate risks related to AI-powered technology.
Altman recently came under fire after actress Scarlett Johansson slammed OpenAI for using a voice similar to hers in a new ChatGPT feature, after she refused the company’s request to use her voice.
OpenAI was founded in December 2015 by Altman, Elon Musk, and other tech luminaries.
It originally started as a non-profit organization but added a for-profit arm in 2019 to raise funds for research.
Musk left OpenAI in 2018 after hoping to merge the company with his own electric car maker, Tesla, giving him effective full control.
Since launching ChatGPT in late 2022, OpenAI’s valuation has skyrocketed to around $90 billion.
But Altman is reportedly now discussing how to turn OpenAI into a traditional company.
Altman is considering whether to make OpenAI a for-profit company or emulate other AI development companies such as Anthropic and Musk’s xAI, which are registered as for-profit public benefit corporations.
For-profit public benefit corporations are legally permitted to prioritize positive social impact over obligations to shareholders.
These types of corporations are structured in a way that protects them from minority shareholders who may sue them for making decisions that don’t necessarily benefit shareholders.
Turning OpenAI into a commercial company would enable Altman to raise up to $100 billion in capital, which he says is needed to fund giant data centers that house supercomputers with millions of specialized server chips that power his company’s technology.
Last November, Altman was removed from his position as CEO by several board members who accused him of making false statements to the company.
The decision caused an uproar, with hundreds of employees signing a letter threatening to resign if Altman’s firing was not overturned.
Altman and co-founder Greg Brockman, who resigned in protest against the firings, were reinstated, and several directors who took part in the coup – Ilya Sutskever, Helen Toner and Tasha McCauley – were fired.
In an interview earlier this week, Toner alleged that Altman had repeatedly lied to the company’s board about everything from AI safety to the launch of ChatGPT.
She revealed that the board only found out about ChatGPT’s launch after it had already happened.
“When ChatGPT was announced in November 2022, the board had no prior knowledge of it,” Toner told “TED AI Show” host Bilawal Sidhu on Tuesday. “We found out about ChatGPT on Twitter.”
OpenAI board chair Brett Taylor refuted Toner’s claims in a statement shared on the podcast.
The statement noted that the law firm WilmerHale had investigated the circumstances surrounding Altman’s firing and that he had denied any wrongdoing.
“We are disappointed that Mr. Toner continues to raise these issues,” the statement said.
Additional reporting by Thomas Barabi
