Ilya Sutskever, the co-founder and chief scientist of OpenAI’s for-profit arm who helped briefly oust CEO Sam Altman last year, is leaving the artificial intelligence firm.
“After almost a decade, I have made the decision to leave OpenAI,” Sutskever wrote in a May 14 X <a href="https://twitter.com/ilyasut/status/1790517455628198322" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">post</a> saying he was going to work on a “personally meaningful” project. He added he was confident the firm would build an artificial general intelligence (AGI) that is “safe and beneficial.”
Altman posted on X that Sutskever and OpenAI would “part ways” and the former chief scientist “has something personally meaningful he is going to go work on.”
<figure>
 <img src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2024-05/4e70330f-60cb-4663-9577-46693d04d207.png">
 <figcaption style="text-align: center;">
 Source: <a href="https://twitter.com/ilyasut/status/1790517455628198322" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Ilya Sutskever</a>
 </figcaption>
</figure>
OpenAI <a href="https://openai.com/index/jakub-pachocki-announced-as-chief-scientist/" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">announced</a> Jakub Pachocki as its new chief scientist. Pachocki has been the firm’s director of research since 2017 and led the development of its <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/explained/what-is-gpt-4o-and-how-is-it-different-from-gpt-3-gpt-35-and-gpt-4">GPT-4</a> large language model.
Sutskever was part of an effort that successfully saw OpenAI’s board <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/sam-altman-fired-from-openai-timeline">briefly push out Altman as CEO</a> in November last year before he was later re-hired to the role after backlash from employees.
The Information <a href="https://www.theinformation.com/articles/before-openai-ousted-altman-employees-disagreed-over-ai-safety" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">reported</a> at the time that Sutskever — who was one of six board members for the nonprofit OpenAI, Inc. — told employees Altman’s ouster was the board doing its duty to ensure OpenAI “builds AGI that benefits all of humanity.” 
Sutskever later wrote in a November X <a href="https://twitter.com/ilyasut/status/1726590052392956028" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">post</a>: “I deeply regret my participation in the board’s actions.“ 
After Altman was rehired, Sutskever stepped down from OpenAI’s board and it’s been unclear what role he had at the firm which sparked the meme template “Where is Ilya?” that speculated what position he had at OpenAI.
<figure>
 <img src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2024-05/e3336e09-2c66-41ec-bc62-0c5aa52aa790.png">
 <figcaption style="text-align: center;">
 Source: <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1768706295291314586" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Elon Musk</a>
 </figcaption>
</figure>
Related: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/elon-musk-sues-sam-altman-openai-agreement-breach">Elon Musk sues Sam Altman, OpenAI over agreement breach</a>
AGI is a term for a <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/artificial-general-intelligence-agi-prototype-early-2025-ben-goertzel">hypothetical artificial intelligence</a> that can perform the same as or better than humans on a range of tasks.
Altman <a href="https://youtu.be/GLKoDkbS1Cg?feature=shared&amp;t=871" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">said</a> last month he doesn’t care how much it costs to make an AGI, even if he spends $50 billion a year.
Others, such as Ethereum co-founder <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/top-people-in-crypto-and-blockchain-2023/vitalik-buterin">Vitalik Buterin</a>, have called for a measured approach to developing a possible intelligent AI saying it poses unknown risks.
AI Eye: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/chatgpt-predict-crypto-prices-ai-humane-ai-pin-slammed-knowledge-collapse-ai-eye/">How to get better crypto predictions from ChatGPT, Humane AI pin slammed</a>
Update (May 15, 5:20 am UTC): This article has been updated to add information throughout.

OpenAI co-founder and chief scientist departs AI firm

Cointelegraph

Other articles published on May 15, 2024

AI Coins Surge After Dovish CPI Inflation Print - Is WienerAI The Best Crypto To Buy Now?

UK Moves to Establish Global Standard for AI Security with Draft Code

Vanguard Appoints Ex-BlackRock ETF Chief Salim Ramji as New CEO

Smart Altcoin Choices for Record-Breaking Earnings

Meme Coins are Making Buzz: Can They Make Fortune This Bull Run?

Next Cryptocurrency To Explode Wednesday, May 15 — Pendle, MUMU THE BULL, Starknet, Axelar

Join our free newsletter for daily crypto updates!