zlacker

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+(OP)
Bingo. The for profit stuff was probably ok with the board to raise capital. But the closeness with Microsoft probably went too far for the board.

>>northe+(OP)
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+Q4
Yep.

>>jasonm+Q4
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.)