OpenAI's Future Is Doubtful After Sam Altman's CEO's Dismissal

JAKARTA - OpenAI's decision to fire CEO Sam Altman may jeopardize the company's future. Most of its employees reportedly threatened to leave unless the dismissal was canceled. The situation is even more complicated as a number of executives from the Big Tech organization have offered jobs to employees considering leaving.

Microsoft's chief technology, Kevin Scott, and Salesforce founder and CEO, Marc Benioff, have offered to match the compensation of any OpenAI employees who wish to leave. while team leaders in the Meta and Nvidia Fundamental AI Research teams have requested resummation and offered to place former OpenAI employees in their division.

This incredible support comes after 12 months of rollercoasters for OpenAI. The company released an important ChatGPT product in November 2022 and received worldwide praise. Since then, the company's valuation has skyrocketed to a reported 86 billion US dollars (Rp 1.2 quadrillion). However, the surprising dismissal of Altman on November 17 has resulted in unprecedented turmoil in the company.

At the time of writing, it was reported that 700 of the 770 company employees including Ilya Sutskever, the only co-founder left to occupy the position on the board of directors of the company, had signed a letter stating their intention to leave if Altman was not recovered.

While the threat of a strike for employees is not uncommon in the tech sector after the company's reshuffle, this particular scenario could have too big an impact, according to speculation from various researchers and experts.

One less likely scenario involves the hypothetical wholesale recruitment of all OpenAI employees available by a larger company like Microsoft. This will effectively create a hostile takeover scenario where OpenAI is acquired with all names for in-dollar cents.

However, there are several other scenarios to consider. The recent report shows that the newly employed OpenAI board and CEO, cost Shear, was involved in "intensive discussions" with employees and stakeholders.

If successful, OpenAI can keep its core development and forward team with its new CEO. But the recruitment of Altman by Microsoft as CEO of the undisclosed new artificial intelligence division could complicate the problem, as he may no longer be incentive to lead OpenAI.

It remains to be seen whether OpenAI employees will follow up on their threats to leave if the company chooses not to cancel the November 17 decision or if Altman refuses to return.