Twitch co-founder Emmett Shear has been named OpenAI's new CEO just days after the sacking of Sam Altman.
"Today, I got a call inviting me to consider a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: to become the interim CEO of @OpenAI. After consulting with my family and reflecting on it for a few hours, I accepted. I had recently resigned from my role as CEO of Twitch due to the birth of my now nine month old son." he stated in a post on X.
"I have nothing but respect for what Sam and the entire OpenAI team have built. It’s not just an incredible research project and software product but an incredible company. I’m here because I know that, and I want to do everything in my power to protect it and grow it further." he added.
On Friday, the board of directors of OpenAI fired its former CEO, Altman, provoking other high-profile exits from the firm and a rumored campaign by big investors to bring the co-founder back.
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Shear refuted in his piece that Altman was fired due to safety concerns.
"Before accepting the position, I investigated the reasons for the change." "The board did not remove Sam because of any specific disagreement on safety; their reasoning was entirely different," he wrote.
"I'm not crazy enough to take this job without board support for commercialising our awesome models."
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced hiring Altman to run an AI research team at the global tech titan an hour before Shear's tweet.
Today I got a call inviting me to consider a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: to become the interim CEO of @OpenAI. After consulting with my family and reflecting on it for just a few hours, I accepted. I had recently resigned from my role as CEO of Twitch due to the birth of my…
— Emmett Shear (@eshear) November 20, 2023
