The appointment of Emmett Shear as the new CEO of OpenAI has been met with controversy, as he has expressed harsh opinions about his time at Microsoft. In a post on X, Shear compared his experience there to “selling my soul,” and criticized the way in which Sam Altman, his former colleague and ex-CEO, was let go from leading OpenAI.
Shear’s negative views towards Microsoft have become clear after the corporation invested $10 billion in the company and hired Altman to lead a new AI team. However, when Altman was terminated from his position and Shear was appointed CEO, he referred to it as “handled very badly” and having “seriously damaged our trust.”
Shear’s social media posts have been explicit about his apprehensions and informative assertions about AI. He has stated that he wants to slow down AI development, which is unlikely to benefit the relationship between OpenAI and Microsoft. This sudden turn of events has left both companies silent about the reappointment of Shear as CEO, but it seems that Altman has finally gone to join Microsoft to head up a new AI team.