A detailed article in Fortune provides fascinating insights into the turbulent recent months at OpenAI. The releases of AI models GPT-4o and o1 in particular caused internal conflicts between safety and development teams, as reported by Jeremy Kahn, Sharon Goldman, and Kali Hays.
CEO Sam Altman pushed for rapid product launches to maintain OpenAI’s leading position. In doing so, concerns of some employees were apparently disregarded. At the same time, the company culture is changing due to numerous new hires. Long-time researchers are leaving OpenAI, while more employees from commercial backgrounds are joining.
These developments present the company with the challenge of maintaining its innovative strength despite internal tensions. The competition doesn’t sleep. The losses are enormous. A difficult restructuring and a massive financing round are on the horizon.