You didn’t think the OpenAI soap opera was done, did you? 😉 The Washington Post reports that OpenAI leaders warned of abusive behavior before Sam Altman’s recent firing.

In the article (OpenAI leaders warned of abusive behavior before Sam Altman’s ouster, written by Nitasha Tiku and available here) reports that, this fall, a small number of senior leaders approached the board of OpenAI with concerns about chief executive Sam Altman.

Altman — a revered mentor, prodigious start-up investor and avatar of the AI revolution — had been psychologically abusive, the employees alleged, creating pockets of chaos and delays at the artificial-intelligence start-up, according to two people familiar with the board’s thinking who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal matters. The company leaders, a group that included key figures and people who manage large teams, mentioned Altman’s allegedly pitting employees against each other in unhealthy ways, the people said.

Although the board members didn’t use the language of abuse to describe Altman’s behavior, these complaints echoed some of their interactions with Altman over the years, and they had already been debating the board’s ability to hold the CEO accountable. Several board members thought Altman had lied to them, for example, as part of a campaign to remove board member Helen Toner after she published a paper criticizing OpenAI, the people said.

The new complaints triggered a review of Altman’s conduct during which the board weighed the devotion Altman had cultivated among factions of the company against the risk that OpenAI could lose key leaders who found interacting with him highly toxic. They also considered reports from several employees who said they feared retaliation from Altman: One told the board that Altman was hostile after the employee shared critical feedback with the CEO and that he undermined the employee on that person’s team, the people said.

“It is clear that there were real misunderstandings between me and members of the board,” Altman wrote on X. “For my part, it is incredibly important to learn from this experience and apply those learnings as we move forward as a company.”

The complaints about Altman’s alleged behavior, which have not previously been reported, were a major factor in the board’s abrupt decision to fire Altman on Nov. 17, according to the people. Initially cast as a clash over the safe development of artificial intelligence, Altman’s firing was at least partially motivated by the sense that his behavior would make it impossible for the board to oversee the CEO.

The article goes on to discuss several of the events that occurred in the upheaval at OpenAI (including those reported here and here). Check it out! The layers of the onion continue to be peeled back, don’t they!

Hat tip to Kelly Twigger on this breaking report from The Washington Post!

So, what do you think? Are you surprised that OpenAI leaders warned of abusive behavior before Sam Altman’s recent firing? Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

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