CEO Sam Altman is fired by ChatGPT parent company OpenAI.

Sam Altman, the founder and CEO of OpenAI, the firm behind ChatGPT, the popular chatbot, was let go on Friday. The emerging AI business was rocked by his unexpected departure.

According to an internal inquiry, Altman wasn’t always honest with the board, the business claimed in a statement.

“The company released a statement stating that Mr. Altman’s departure is the result of the board’s deliberate review process, which concluded that he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities.” “The board no longer believes he can lead OpenAI in the future.”

OpenAI has recently announced that Mira Murati, the company’s Chief Technology Officer, will step in as the interim CEO while the search for a permanent replacement is underway.

Following this announcement, former CEO Sam Altman reflected on his tenure at OpenAI in a tweet. He expressed how the experience was personally transformative and hoped it had made a positive impact on the world. Altman highlighted the joy he found in working alongside talented individuals and teased that he would share more about his future endeavors at a later time.

This leadership change comes on the heels of OpenAI’s inaugural developer conference in San Francisco. During the event, where Altman played the role of master of ceremonies, OpenAI unveiled several updates to its artificial intelligence tools. Notably, these updates included new capabilities for developers to customize versions of ChatGPT. Altman also shared impressive user statistics: approximately 2 million developers are currently utilizing the platform, with around 90% of Fortune 500 companies implementing these tools internally. As of now, OpenAI boasts a user base of 100 million active users.

ChatGPT, launched in late 2022, catapulted Sam Altman into a newfound status of semi-celebrity, making him the face of an emerging wave of AI tools capable of generating images and texts from user prompts. This technology, known as generative AI, has since been integrated by Microsoft in its search engine and other applications, with Google introducing a similar tool called “Bard.” In the months following its release, ChatGPT quickly became almost synonymous with AI, being used for a variety of tasks from drafting emails to website creation and even passing academic exams.

Altman, a long-time proponent and critic of AI, highlighted the critical nature of this technological boom in a Congressional testimony. He questioned whether AI would be a force for widespread empowerment like the printing press, or a perilous invention akin to the atom bomb. His concerns led him to discussions with top U.S. leaders, including President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, about ethical AI development.

However, some, including OpenAI co-founder Elon Musk, have called for a more cautious approach, suggesting a temporary halt in the development of advanced AI systems due to potential risks.

Following Altman’s departure, which analyst Arun Chandrasekaran from Gartner Research termed “shocking,” attention turns to Mira Murati, OpenAI’s interim CEO. Murati, who joined OpenAI in 2018, brings a background in engineering from Dartmouth and experience from companies like Ultraleap and Tesla. Her leadership is anticipated to continue OpenAI’s rapid innovation and address regulatory and societal expectations.

The tech community has reacted with surprise to the news. Microsoft, a major investor in OpenAI, expressed continued support for Murati and her team. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt lauded Altman’s achievements and impact on the tech world, while ABI Research analyst Reece Hayden speculated that Altman’s exit might signal a shift towards more self-regulation in AI.