On Friday, OpenAI announced the dismissal of its CEO, Sam Altman.

In a blog post, the company stated, "Mr. Altman's departure was a decision made by the board of directors after careful consideration. The review concluded that he was not consistently transparent in his communication with the board, which hindered the board's ability to fulfill its duties. The board has lost confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI."

Mira Murati, the Chief Technology Officer, will serve as the interim CEO, effective immediately. The company will initiate a search for a permanent CEO. OpenAI's media department declined to comment outside of the blog post during an interview. According to multiple sources, OpenAI employees learned of this news through the public announcement.

Altman posted on X (formerly known as Twitter), saying, "I have had a wonderful time at OpenAI. It has been a transformative experience for me, and I hope to make an impact on the world. Most importantly, I have enjoyed working with these talented individuals. I will have more to say about the future. According to Semafor, Altman has been raising a venture capital fund focused on "hard tech," although it is unclear if this is the reason for his departure.

The announcement from OpenAI also stated that co-founder and president Greg Brockman will step down as chairman of the board but will remain with the company. A few hours after the announcement, Brockman posted on X, stating that he had resigned based on "today's news."

This is an extremely sudden event. Altman has been the face of OpenAI, and the company gained an advantage in the current AI competition with the launch of ChatGPT last year. Just last week, Altman delivered the keynote speech at the company's inaugural DevDay conference, where they announced a series of major updates to compete with other tech giants like Microsoft and Google. Recently, Altman also spoke at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting on Thursday.

Microsoft, which has invested billions of dollars in OpenAI, expressed its commitment to continue working with the company. Microsoft spokesperson Frank Shaw stated in a statement, "We have a long-standing partnership with OpenAI, and Microsoft will continue to support Mira and their team in bringing this new era of AI to our customers." Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella also made a similar statement on X.

It has been reported that Altman had discussions with former Apple Chief Design Officer Jony Ive about creating an "AI version of the iPhone," although Altman recently downplayed these rumors at a Wall Street Journal conference. He is also the largest shareholder of Humane, which has just launched orders for Humane AI Pin.

Unlike traditional private company boards, OpenAI's board is primarily composed of external individuals. After Altman and Brockman's departure, the remaining board members include the company's Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever, Quora CEO Adam D'Angelo, former CEO of GeoSim Systems Tasha McCauley, and the Strategic Director of the Center for Security and Emerging Technology at Georgetown University, Helen Toner.