Ilya Sutskever, a founding figure and the chief scientist at OpenAI, has left the organization. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced the news via a post on X on Tuesday evening.
“This is very sad to me; Ilya Sutskever is easily one of the greatest minds of our generation, a guiding light of our field, and a dear friend,” Altman expressed. “OpenAI would not be what it is without him. Although he has something personally meaningful he is going to work on, I am forever grateful for what he did here and committed to finishing the mission we started together.”
Leadership Transition
Jakub Pachocki, the director of research at OpenAI, will step into Sutskever’s role. Pachocki joined OpenAI in 2017 as a research lead on the Dota team, which developed an AI system that could beat human players at the strategy game Dota 2. He later led the reasoning and deep learning research teams and then earned a promotion to principal of research.
It is not yet confirmed if Pachocki will also lead OpenAI’s Superalignment team, which was previously managed by Sutskever and Jan Leike. The New York Times has reported that Leike has also left OpenAI.
OpenAI launched the Superalignment team in July to devise methods for directing, regulating, and overseeing “superintelligent” AI systems—those with intelligence far beyond human capabilities. According to The New York Times, John Schulman, another co-founder of OpenAI, will now take on the supervisory role.
Reports suggest that OpenAI plans to integrate the Superalignment team more deeply across its research initiatives to better accomplish its objectives. This integration might lead to changes in the team’s current structure.
Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s president, noted on X that Sutskever “played a key role in helping build the foundations of what OpenAI has become today.”
Background of the Departure
Sutskever’s exit follows the launch of OpenAI’s latest generative AI model, GPT-4o, and significant updates to the ChatGPT AI-powered chatbot. His departure concludes a dramatic period that began last November.
A week before Thanksgiving, Sutskever and OpenAI CTO Mira Murati approached members of OpenAI’s previous board with concerns about Altman’s conduct. Reports indicated disagreements about the direction of OpenAI, with Sutskever growing frustrated with Altman’s push to launch AI products quickly, potentially compromising safety.
The previous board, which included Sutskever, moved to fire Altman abruptly without informing most of OpenAI’s employees. The board stated that Altman had not been “consistently candid” with them.
This decision upset Microsoft and other investors, threatening OpenAI’s stock sale and prompting the majority of employees, including Sutskever, to threaten to quit unless Altman was reinstated. Altman was eventually reinstated, and much of the old board resigned. According to The New York Times, Sutskever did not return to work, and Pachocki has effectively acted as chief scientist since November.
Sutskever’s Contributions and Future Plans
Sutskever, who completed his Ph.D. in computer science at the University of Toronto under AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton, co-founded OpenAI in 2015 after leaving Google Brain. He has made significant contributions to AI, including work on ImageNet and DeepMind’s AlphaGo.
Regarding his future, Sutskever has not provided specifics but mentioned that he is leaving OpenAI with confidence in its ability to build safe and beneficial artificial general intelligence (AGI).
“I am excited for what comes next—a project that is very personally meaningful to me about which I will share details in due time,” Sutskever stated. “It was an honor and a privilege to have worked together [at OpenAI], and I will miss everyone dearly.”
The departure of Ilya Sutskever marks a significant transition for OpenAI. His foundational contributions have critically contributed to the company’s success, and people will closely watch his future endeavors. OpenAI continues its mission with new leadership poised to drive forward its groundbreaking work in AI.
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