Although Sam Altman returned to OpenAI as CEO, the "coup" drama that shocked the technology world has come to an end. But throughout, a mystery has lingered in people's minds: Why was Ultraman fired? Now, as more and more news is revealed, the truth behind Ultraman's dismissal is gradually emerging.

According to media reports citing people familiar with the matter,Altman's ouster comes after several company researchers sent a letter to the board warning of a powerful artificial intelligence (AI) discovery that could threaten humanity.

Sources stated,This previously unreported letter and the AI ​​algorithm were the catalysts that led to the removal of Altman from the OpenAI board of directors. They said the letter was one of the reasons the board was unhappy with Altman's firing.

According to one of the sources,Longtime OpenAI executive Meera Murati told employees on Wednesday that a letter about an AI breakthrough called Q* (pronounced Q-Star) prompted the board to take action.

Another source said OpenAI is making progress on Q*, which some insiders believe could be the startup's breakthrough in superintelligence, also known as artificial general intelligence (AGI). OpenAI defines AGI as an AI system that is smarter than humans.

The source said the new model is capable of solving certain mathematical problems given the vast computing resources. Although Q*'s math scores are only at the level of primary school students, researchers are very optimistic about Q*'s future success.

Ultraman is a leader in the field of generative AI. Before OpenAI announced late Tuesday that Ultraman would be returning, more than 700 company employees — nearly all of them — had threatened to quit and follow Ultraman to Microsoft. This is enough to show Ultraman’s leadership and influence in OpenAI.

In fact, after Ultraman was fired, the outside world began to speculate about the reasons for his ouster. Some people also speculated that a possible reason was that the relationship between the company's leaders was increasingly tense due to the dangers that AI brought to mankind.

Altman has been aggressively seeking funding to expand the development of AI technology, while several other board members have called on the company to do more to mitigate potential threats.

Technology tycoon Elon Musk called a few days ago that OpenAI should disclose to the public the reasons for its dismissal of Ultraman, given that the potential dangers of AI are so great.