It might not seem like the case right now, but I think the real disruption is just about to begin. OpenAI does not have in its DNA to win, they're too short-sighted and reactive. Big techs will have incredible distribution power but a real disruptor must be brewing somewhere unnoticed, for now.
If the "other side" (board) had put up a SINGLE convincing argument on why Sam had to go maybe the employees would have not supported Sam unequivocally.
But, atleast as an outsider, we heard nothing that suggests board had reasons to remove Sam other than "the vibes were off"
Can you really accuse the employees of groupthink when the other side is so weak?
Yes, you are right that the board had weak sauce reasoning for the firing (giving two teams the same project!?!).
That said, the other commenter is right that this is the beginning of the end.
One of the interesting things over the past few years watching the development of AI has been that in parallel to the demonstration of the limitations of neural networks has been many demonstrations of the limitations of human thinking and psychology.
Altman just got given a blank check and crowned as king of OpenAI. And whatever opposition he faced internally just lost all its footing.
That's a terrible recipe for long term success.
Whatever the reasons for the firing, this outcome is going to completely screw their long term prospects, as no matter how wonderful a leader someone is, losing the reality check of empowered opposition results in terrible decisions being made unchecked.
He's going to double down on chat interfaces because that's been their unexpected bread and butter up until the point they get lapped by companies with broader product vision, and whatever elements at OpenAI shared that broader vision are going to get steamrolled now that he's been given an unconditional green light until they jump ship over the next 18 months to work elsewhere.