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OpenAI\u2019s former CTO Mira Murati just testified under oath that CEO Sam Altman didn\u2019t tell the truth to her, and that his habits interfered with her ability to do her job. The allegation in question, that Altman lied about safety practices, was already public, having featured heavily in a recent New Yorker feature about Altman. Now it\u2019s court testimony.<\/p>\n
For a few weird days in 2023, Murati was an interim CEO of OpenAI after Altman was briefly fired (And then OpenAI very briefly picked another CEO, Emmett Shear). Reports from this chaotic time paint a picture of a working relationship between Altman and Murati that came under strain when Murati lost Altman\u2019s trust. Behind-the-scenes accounts say she sent memos to the company\u2019s board of directors and Altman himself, questioning Altman\u2019s managerial abilities, and that his termination soon followed.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, a video deposition from Murati was shown to the court during the Musk v. Altman court proceedings, in which she testified to the truth of this story. A new model was being prepared for release\u2014which the New Yorker says was GPT-4 Turbo\u2014and in her testimony, as described by the Verge, she said Altman told her OpenAI\u2019s legal department, headed at the time by Jason Kwon, said it wasn\u2019t necessary for the OpenAI safety board to review the model.<\/p>\n
The person asking questions in the deposition asked, \u201cAs you understand it, was Mr. Altman telling the truth when he made that statement to you?\u201d<\/p>\n
To which Murati said, \u201cNo.\u201d She later explained in her testimony, according to the Verge, \u201cI confirmed that what Jason was saying and what Sam was saying were not the same thing.\u201d She characterized this as a \u201cmisalignment\u201d between Altman and Kwon. Kwon is now OpenAI\u2019s chief strategy officer.<\/p>\n
According to Reuters, Murati said in her testimony, \u201cMy concern was about Sam saying one thing to one person and completely the opposite to another person.\u201d She also reportedly testified that Altman had been \u201ccreating chaos.\u201d She described OpenAI at this time as \u201cat catastrophic risk of falling apart,\u201d and said she was \u201cconcerned about the company completely blowing up,\u201d according to Reuters.<\/p>\n
According to the New Yorker, Murati\u2019s memos to Altman and the board came soon after this interaction, and \u201cSoon afterward, the board made its decision to fire Altman.\u201d Murati was interim CEO for a handful of days, then Shear stepped in for a few days, and then Altman was reinstated, a move Murati publicly supported.<\/p>\n
According to Forbes, Murati testified Wednesday that after his return to OpenAI, Altman continued with behaviors that had worried her, including delays around important decisions, and giving inconsistent messages to different coworkers, which she reportedly said created a \u201cvery difficult and chaotic environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
About ten months after Sam Altman was reinstated as CEO, Murati left, and a few month later, founded her own AI company.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n