Greg Brockman returns to the helm of OpenAI

OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman is returning to the helm of the AI company after a sabbatical. It is still unclear what role he will have at Open AI in the future. An internal message to employees has leaked out that Brockman is working with CEO Sam Altman to create a new role that will focus on "significant technical challenges". Officially, the company only confirmed to the US financial news agency Bloomberg that Brockman is back.

Brockman's return follows the departure of several high-ranking employees, whose departures caused unrest among staff and public debate. Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati, co-founders John Schulman and Ilya Sutskever and security researcher Lilian Weng left the company. Sutskever and Murati have since founded their own AI start-ups.

Close confidant of Sam Altman

Brockman played an important role as Altman's ally during the brief dismissal and return of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in November 2023. He resigned from his position in solidarity with Altman. However, when Altman returned to his role a few days later, Brockman also returned.

According to Brockman,his sabbatical, which began in August, was the first break he had taken since founding OpenAI nine years ago. However, he announced his intention to return as soon as he took his sabbatical. "The mission is far from complete; we still need to develop a secure AGI," he told X. He has now also confirmed his return on the social network: "Longest vacation of my life complete. Back to continue building OpenAI."

Speculation about AGI

His return fuels speculation that OpenAI is one step closer to becoming an artificial general intelligence (AGI) that can solve more than just specific tasks. From the company's point of view, however, Brockman is likely to be a sign that the exodus at the top is coming to an end and that work will continue with proven forces.

(mki)