Elon Musk’s cozy relationships with OpenAI board members may have been a key factor in the AI giant’s surprise (and still mysterious) decision to briefly oust Sam Altman as CEO, sources told On TheMoney.
The billionaire CEO of Tesla, SpaceX and Sutskever, who voted to unseat Altman, a source said.
“At the end of the day, everyone thinks they’re close to Elon,” another source added. “Anyone accepts a conversation with him.”
The extent of Musk’s possible behind-the-scenes machinations is unclear, but publicly, the billionaire has waged a campaign of support for the board. He shared an anonymous, and unverified letter in X of former employees who accuse Altman of “deception and manipulation.”
Musk also shared a history which reported that the junta had recently been warned about a development that could “threaten humanity.” He called her post “extremely concerning.” The story said that it was this “unreported letter and AI algorithm” that catalyzed Altman’s elimination.
The combination of those concerns, plus having Elon in their ear, may have been enough to push some board members over the edge when it came to ousting Altman, according to some experts.
In fact, sources say D’Angelo, who is also CEO of the social question-and-answer website Quora, and other board members trusted Musk to support their decision. At the very least, the idea of having Musk and other powerful supporters on their side may have caused the board to miscalculate the employee and investor uproar that firing Altman would cause.
“Someone gave the board titanium balls,” a source said. Knowing that someone of Musk’s stature agreed with his decision helped confirm it was the right move and gave them confidence to pull the trigger, sources add.
Musk publicly came to the defense of OpenAI co-founder Sutskever.
“I am very worried. Ilya has a good moral compass and is not seeking power,” Musk. he said in a Nov. 19 post on X. “He wouldn’t take such drastic measures unless he deemed it absolutely necessary.”
Sutskever later admitted that he regretted his involvement in the strange affair and has since left the OpenAI board of directors.
Musk expanded on his apparent concern about Sutskever’s actions during an explosive appearance at the New York Times DealBook Summit on Wednesday, telling the crowd that he wanted more information about why the AI scientist had “felt strongly enough to fight against “Sam.”
“That sounds like something serious. I don’t think it was trivial. And I’m quite concerned that there’s some dangerous element to the AI that they’ve discovered,” Musk said.
At the same time, Musk insisted that he does not know the real reason for Altman’s ouster.
“I’ve talked to a lot of people… I haven’t found anyone who knows why,” Musk said.
Musk said that after the drama, he reached out to Sutskever, but the OpenAI scientist refused to talk to Musk about the situation.
However, he also called for more transparency about the situation. The reason is “either it is serious and we should know about it”… or it was “silly and the board should be fired.”
Musk has a potential business motive to stoke dissent at OpenAI. He has openly expressed concern that AI could wipe out humanity; however, he continues to work at his own company xAI.
Many experts have suggested that the dystopian, Terminator-like predictions put forth by executives like Musk and Altman are actually an attempt at “regulatory capture.”
By openly discussing the worst possibilities for an AI future, experts say, top executives can help shape regulation and protect the technology from potential rivals.
