Sam Altman, CEO, OpenAI - a podcast by BBC Radio 4

from 2023-12-02T19:30

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It is only a year since the controversial AI chatbot, ChatGPT was launched by Open AI, the company founded by this week's profilee, Sam Altman. For him the past year may have felt like a roller coaster but surely nothing compares with the last two weeks. Over the course of a week, he lost his job at Open AI and was immediately offered a job by Microsoft who'd invested heavily in the business. Next, Open AI employees threatened to resign in solidarity with their founder if he was not reinstated. The board had no choice but to take him back.

Sam Altman is now back as CEO of Open AI, and those who ousted him are no longer on the board. But who is this relatively young tech entrepreneur who founded an AI company with Elon Musk and ran one of the most successful tech incubators in Silicon Valley? Timandra Harkness finds out.

CONTRIBUTORS

Andy Abbott, Head of School, John Burroughs School, St. Louis, Missouri

Elizabeth Weil, journalist, New York magazine

Mike Isaacs, Tech reporter, New York Times

Madhumita Murgia, AI journalist, Financial Times

Kate Bevan, Writer and Broadcaster, Technology