OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever leaves ChatGPT maker

One of the co-founders of the pioneering AI company behind ChatGPT is leaving the team he helped to build.

The ChatGPT tool which was created by OpenAI remains at the center of the generative AI boom. Yet at a huge height, co-founder and chief scientist Ilya Sutskever is leaving.

“Ilya and OpenAI are going to part ways. This is very sad to me…” said the CEO Sam Altman in a message he shared with the company on Tuesday afternoon (May 14).

pic.twitter.com/qyPMIcvcsY

— Ilya Sutskever (@ilyasut) May 14, 2024

“…Ilya is easily one of the greatest minds of our generation, a guiding light of our field, and a dear friend.

“His brilliance and vision are well known; his warmth and compassion are less well known but no less important.”

Altman expands on the co-founder’s contribution: “OpenAI would not be what it is without him. Although he has something personally meaningful he is going to go work on, I am forever grateful for what he did here and committed to finishing the mission we started together.

“I am happy that for so long I got to be close to such genuinely remarkable genius, and someone so focused on getting to the best future for humanity.”

Ilya Sutskever’s next venture hasn’t been made publicly known yet, but he has taken to the X platform (formerly Twitter) to bid his farewell.

After almost a decade, I have made the decision to leave OpenAI.  The company’s trajectory has been nothing short of miraculous, and I’m confident that OpenAI will build AGI that is both safe and beneficial under the leadership of @sama, @gdb, @miramurati and now, under the…

— Ilya Sutskever (@ilyasut) May 14, 2024

After expressing how the “company’s trajectory has been nothing short of miraculous” and saying how much he’ll miss his former colleagues, Sutskever said he’s “excited for what comes next.”

“A project that is very personally meaningful to me about which I will share details in due time.”

Chief Scientist role filled following OpenAI co-founder departure

The company wasted no time in announcing its new Chief Scientist Jakub Pachocki.

Jakub has been at the company since 2017 and previously served as Director of Research, heading the development of GPT-4 and OpenAI Five.

Sam Altman says: “Jakub is also easily one of the greatest minds of our generation; I am thrilled he is taking the baton here.

“He has run many of our most important projects, and I am very confident he will lead us to make rapid and safe progress towards our mission of ensuring that AGI benefits everyone.”

Featured Image: Photo by Jonathan Kemper on Unsplash