OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever and research director Jan Leike have announced their departure from the company.
Their departure comes on the heels of the OpenAI Spring Update event, where OpenAI introduced revolutionary innovations.
So why did Ilya Sutskever and Jan Leike resign? Here’s all we know…
OpenAI’s Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever resigns
CEO Sam Altman and Sutskever himself confirmed the departure in posts on X.
Sam Altman called Sutskever “one of the greatest minds of our time” and shared a hopeful message about the future of OpenAI following his departure. Altman announced that Sutskever would focus on his own project and that Jakub Pachocki would now take over as Chief Scientist. You can access Altman’s post on his X account below.
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
Pahcocki was previously head of research and played a key role in developing GPT-4. According to OpenAI’s press release, Pachocki was chosen to “lead the development of GPT-4 and OpenAI Five and fundamental research in large-scale RL and deep learning optimization.”
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
“I’m excited about what’s next – a project that is very meaningful to me personally and one that I will share details about in due course,” Sutskever said in a statement on X. This statement suggests that Sutskever is working on a new project and that this project may take a different direction from OpenAI.
As mentioned above, Jan Leike, who led the Superalignment team, has also been confirmed to have resigned from OpenAI. Leike’s responsibilities will be taken over by John Schulman.
The new developments could impact the future of OpenAI and other companies in the AI sector. However, Sutskever and Leike’s departure could also lead to the emergence of new ideas and projects. We look forward to seeing what the future holds.
Featured image credit: Growtika / Unsplash
