Key Personnel Leave OpenAI: The Resignations of Brockman and Schulman

Greg Brockman, President and Co-founder of OpenAI, will be taking an extended leave to recuperate and rejuvenate. Simultaneously, John Schulman, also co-founder and researcher at the company, is departing for the emerging AI startup Anthropic. This dual departure marks a significant turning point, as only a few members of the original OpenAI team will remain at the company. Brockman is stepping back after nine years of commitment to OpenAI, as stated by a company spokesperson. The company explicitly thanked Schulman in a statement for his contributions, especially in the field of Aligned AI. "His passion and hard work have created a strong foundation that will inspire and support future innovations at OpenAI and in the broader field of Artificial Intelligence," said the spokesperson. Schulman, who served as a research scientist at OpenAI primarily focused on training AI models, emphasized in a post on the platform X that his decision was not due to any lack of support for alignment research within the company. "On the contrary, the corporate leadership shows great commitment in this area," Schulman assured. Notably, Schulman played a significant role as one of the main architects behind the highly acclaimed ChatGPT. However, he stressed that he often received too much credit for the tool and highlighted the collective work of the entire team. Schulman’s departure is the latest in a series of significant personnel changes at OpenAI, following the recent ousting and swift reinstatement of its CEO Sam Altman. At Anthropic, Schulman will join Jan Leike, another former OpenAI researcher who is also dedicated to AI safety.