zlacker

>>davidb+(OP)
Put the pieces together:

Nov 6 - OpenAI devday, with new features of build-your-own ChatGPT and more

Nov 9 - Microsoft cuts employees off from ChatGPT due to "security concerns" [0]

Nov 9 - OpenAI experiences severe downtime the company attributes to a "DDoS" (not the correct term for 'excess usage') [3]

Nov 15 - OpenAI announce no new ChatGPT plus upgrades [1] but still allow regular signups (and still do)

Nov 17 - OpenAI fire Altman

Put the threads together - one theory: the new release had a serious security issue, leaked a bunch of data, and it wasn't disclosed, but Microsoft knew about it.

This wouldn't be the first time - in March there was an incident where users were seeing the private chats of other users [2]

Further extending theory - prioritizing getting to market overrode security/privacy testing, and this most recent release caused something much, much larger.

Further: CTO Mira / others internally concerned about launch etc. but overruled by CEO. Kicks issue up to board, hence their trust in her taking over as interim CEO.

edit: added note on DDoS (thanks kristjansson below) - and despite the downtime it was only upgrades to ChatGPT Plus with the new features that were disabled. Note on why CTO would take over.

[0] https://www.cnbc.com/2023/11/09/microsoft-restricts-employee...

[1] https://twitter.com/sama/status/1724626002595471740

[2] https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/21/23649806/chatgpt-chat-his...

[3] https://techcrunch.com/2023/11/09/openai-blames-ddos-attack-...

>>nikcub+Gj
From: https://openai.com/our-structure

"Second, because the board is still the board of a Nonprofit, each director must perform their fiduciary duties in furtherance of its mission—safe AGI that is broadly beneficial. While the for-profit subsidiary is permitted to make and distribute profit, it is subject to this mission. The Nonprofit’s principal beneficiary is humanity, not OpenAI investors."

So, if I were to speculate, it was because they were at odds over profit/non-profit nature of the future of OpenAI.

>>northe+zo
Maybe, but the board fired him without notifying OpenAI’s employees on a Friday before Thanksgiving week. Thats has to be more than a disagreement for such a forceful move.

>>jasonm+pt
I get this logic, but it seems contradictory with "it was last minute." If they timed it for the Friday before Thanksgiving, then they must have been sitting on it, right? Whereas if it's sudden, it must be unplanned. So which was it, sudden or planned?

The fact they timed the announcement actually implies some planning, which means the reason couldn't be so damaging that they had to fire him immediately after discovering it. (Of course, it's possible that only by coincidence, an unplanned revelation happened at a convenient time to fire him.)