OpenAI Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever Is Officially Leaving
Jakub Pachocki, the previous Director of Research responsible for spearheading the development of GPT-4 and OpenAI Five, has assumed Sutskever's role as Chief Scientist.
Ilya Sutskever, Chief Scientist and co-founder of OpenAI, announced his departure from the company after nearly a decade.
Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, Sutskever expressed confidence in the organization's ability to continue its mission of building safe and beneficial artificial general intelligence (AGI) under the guidance of CEO Sam Altman, President Greg Brockman, and CTO Mira Murati.
Ilya and OpenAI are going to part ways. This is very sad to me; Ilya is easily one of the greatest minds of our generation, a guiding light of our field, and a dear friend. His brilliance and vision are well known; his warmth and compassion are less well known but no less…
— Sam Altman (@sama) May 14, 2024
Altman lauded Sutskever as "one of the greatest minds of our generation" and acknowledged his pivotal contributions to OpenAI. Jakub Pachocki, the previous Director of Research responsible for spearheading the development of GPT-4 and OpenAI Five, has assumed Sutskever's role as Chief Scientist.
After almost a decade, I have made the decision to leave OpenAI. The company’s trajectory has been nothing short of miraculous, and I’m confident that OpenAI will build AGI that is both safe and beneficial under the leadership of @sama, @gdb, @miramurati and now, under the…
— Ilya Sutskever (@ilyasut) May 14, 2024
Last year, OpenAI faced its most significant scandal when Altman and Brockman were abruptly fired by the board of directors, citing a loss of confidence in Altman's leadership. Sutskever was among the board members who voted to fire Altman. Media reports cited a conflict between the two over the speed with which AI is going and how harmful it could be if not researched wisely, and the scientist reportedly expressed his concern that they were moving too fast, which could lead to misinformation among other harmful things.
Fierce lobbying from investors, coupled with the threat of a walkout from employees, has brought OpenAI's boardroom saga to an end with the reinstatement of Sam Altman as CEO and the naming of three new board members.