Frenzied speculation swirls after ousted OpenAI CEO Sam Altman teased breakthrough that pushed ‘the frontier of discovery forward’ – just ONE day before he was fired amid reports he was seeking investors for new AI chip venture

Frenzied speculation swirled after a video of OpenAI’s ousted CEO showed him teasing a massive breakthrough that “pushed the frontier of discovery forward.”

Sam Altman, 38, was ousted from the company due to a “lack of communication” with board members – with many sources saying this came down to his “unchecked” desire for progress and lack of attention to risk.

Just one day before he was fired, he joined world leaders in making veiled boasts about his new ventures at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.

Altman also spent the past few weeks raising billions from investors for an ambitious new chip venture. He traveled all over the world to the Middle East to raise money, it now appears.

Bloomberg reports that its new chip prospect was codenamed Tigris and was still in its infancy. The company sought to create an AI-focused chip company that could produce semiconductors.

This would allow OpenAI to compete with the current company dominating this AI field, Nvidia Corp.

In addition to his chip ambitions, Altman tried to raise money for an AI-focused hardware device after speaking with SoftBank Group Corp. and Mubadala Investment Company.

This all happened at the same time that OpenAI was working to get employees to sell their shares at an $86 billion valuation, helped by one of its key investors Thrive Capital.

Thrive Capital has been in discussions with Microsoft over the past 48 hours to reinstate Altman.

Speculation has erupted over the weekend – especially after Altman’s speech at APEC resurfaced – which is now being examined with new eyes following Friday’s news.

Altman was optimistic when he spoke at the summit in San Francisco on Thursday about ChatGPT and the strides it was making in artificial intelligence.

Just 24 hours before he was fired, he said at APEC: “I think this will be the most transformative and useful technology that humanity has invented yet.

“On a personal note, four times now in OpenAI’s history, the most recent time being just in the past few weeks, I have been in the room as we… pushed back the veil of ignorance and pushed the frontier of discovery forward. ‘

He called it “the professional honor of a lifetime.”

Just a day later he was sensationally fired.

News of his resignation took Silicon Valley by surprise, as the 38-year-old was hailed as a pioneer and one of the leading figures in the high-stakes world of AI.

Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati will serve as interim CEO.

Greg Brockman, president of OpenAI, Jakub Pachocki, director of research, Aleksander Madry, head of preparedness, and Szymon Sidor, senior researcher, all left their jobs at the company upon hearing the news of Sam’s ouster.

Microsoft, Tiger Global, Thrive Capital and Sequoia Capital are among OpenAI’s top investors actively trying to reinstate Altman as CEO, according to reports.

According to people familiar with the matter, they spoke with the WJAltman told investors that when he returns, he wants a new board and structure.

Microsoft, which has invested $13 billion in OpenAI, and Thrive Capital, its second-largest shareholder, have been in talks since Altman lost the top job 48 hours ago.

It’s OpenAI’s unusual governance structure, which Altman created, that got him fired. A non-profit board governs OpenAI – and Altman had no shares in the company, therefore he had little say in the board’s decisions.

This meant the board could kick Altman out without the consent of some of OpenAI’s multibillion-dollar backers, who were happy to have him at the helm of the tech company.

OpenAI, founded by Altman and ten others in 2015, rolled out ChatGPT a year ago — and its ability to mimic human writing has since proven polarizing.

ChatGPT’s expansion occurred so quickly that the board became concerned about whether Altman was considering the security implications of its products – especially with regard to commercial offerings.

Concerns that he was flouting security measures, raised by a fellow OpenAI board member, culminated in the 38-year-old’s sudden resignation, which sent the tech world into a frenzy and set off a firestorm of speculation.

Chief Operating Officer Brad Lightcap sent a memo to employees saying the firing “took us all by surprise.”

He said the new CEO has “our full support” but realized many employees would feel “confusion, sadness and fear.”

Lightcap said there was no wrongdoing in the decision to fire Altman.

Instead, there was a “breakdown in communication between Sam and the board.”

Going forward, the COO told the staff, “We are behind you 1000%.”

The memo, seen by Axiosread: ‘Team – Following yesterday’s announcement, which took us all by surprise, we have had multiple conversations with the board to try to better understand the reasons and process behind their decision.

“These discussions and options regarding our path forward are still ongoing this morning.

“We can say with certainty that the board’s decision was not made in response to any wrongdoing or anything related to our financial, business, safety or security/privacy practices.

‘This was a breakdown in communication between Sam and the board.

“Our position as a company remains extremely strong and Microsoft remains fully committed to our partnership. (Interim CEO) Mira (Murati) has our full support as CEO. We still share your concerns about the way the process was handled, are working to resolve the situation and will provide updates as possible.

“I’m sure you’re all feeling confusion, sadness and perhaps some fear. We are fully focused on handling this, strive for a solution and clarity and get back to work.

“Our collective responsibility right now is to our teammates, partners, users, customers and the broader world who share our vision of broadly beneficial AGI.

‘Hang in there, we are all behind you 1000%.’

In addition to talks with executives about possibly returning, Altman is also discussing the possibility of setting up his own company, insiders said.

Altman himself sent out a series of tweets Saturday evening, apparently regarding the situation, with one saying, “I love the OpenAI team so much.”

The possibilities of a return or a restart for Altman, seen by many as the face of generative AI, are in flux, according to a source, who asked not to be named because the source was not authorized to speak on behalf of the parties involved.

Kholsa Ventures, an early backer of OpenAI, wants Altman back at OpenAI but “will support him in whatever he does next,” the fund’s founder Vinod Khosla wrote on X on Saturday.

Microsoft declined to comment. It owns 49 percent of the company, while other investors and employees control 49 percent, with 2 percent owned by OpenAI’s nonprofit.