According to reports, although Sam Altman has officially returned to OpenAI as CEO today, some employees are still feeling uneasy and preparing to leave the company. Although Altman has returned, the OpenAI board has continued to remain silent on what led to Altman's ouster, making some employees nervous. A senior OpenAI employee said that while employees are happy that Altman is back as CEO, they are still in the dark about a lot of things.
Employees said: "We were told repeatedly that the core of the board's dispute with Altman was not an AI safety issue, but we were not told exactly what it was. So the situation appears to remain fluid."
The lack of clear information has forced some employees to seek other employment opportunities. A person familiar with the matter said that OpenAI competitor Cohere has received job inquiries from some OpenAI employees in recent days.
At the same time, several other companies, including Salesforce, have also publicly stated that they hope to recruit some talents from OpenAI and have offered higher salaries.
According to reports, this time the OpenAI farce has greatly benefited some competitors. AI startups such as HuggingFace and Cohere said they received more customer inquiries during Altman's ouster.
"I think a lot of companies and organizations right now are thinking about this question: What are the risks of outsourcing their artificial intelligence to a company," said Clément Delangue, CEO of HuggingFace.
Today, Altman also accepted an exclusive interview after announcing his official return. When asked about the "specific reasons for his dismissal," Altman remained silent and only said: "The board of directors will launch an independent investigation into this issue, which I very much welcome. I don't have much else to say now, but I look forward to getting more information."