Sam Altman, who was reinstated as OpenAI CEO after being abruptly fired last month, has revealed that the development was confusing and chaotic for him and his iPhone had also stopped working.
In a podcast with comedian-producer Trevor Noah, Altman said that he was in his “hotel room, took this call, had no idea what it was gonna be, and got fired by the board.”
“My phone was just like unusable because it was just notifications nonstop. iMessage did this thing where it stopped working for a while, then messages got delivered late, then it marked everything as read,” he added.
“I was confused. It was chaotic and was “obviously upset” by the board’s decision, Altman said.
His phone started blowing up with messages to the point where iMessage stopped working, Altman said.
“It felt like a dream. It did not feel real.”
It’s still unclear why exactly the OpenAI board tried to push Altman out.
The ouster of Sam Altman by the previous OpenAI board was the culmination of several issues around Altman’s strategic manoeuvring and a “perceived lack of transparency” in his communications with directors, the media reported.
The New Yorker reported that Microsoft executives, including Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella, were blindsided by the decision to oust Altman. Several people in Microsoft found the OpenAI board’s decision “mind-bogglingly stupid” and felt it could destroy the ChatGPT developer.
OpenAI’s new board consists of chair Bret Taylor, Larry Summers, and Adam D’Angelo, the only remaining holdout from the previous board.
Microsoft is a major investor in OpenAI, with a 49 per cent stake in the for-profit entity.