Ilya Sutskever, co-founder and longtime chief scientist of OpenAI, has left the company. His departure was announced by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who praised Sutskever's contributions to the field and the company. Sutskever's replacement is Jakub Pachocki, OpenAI’s director of research, who joined the company in 2017 and has since held various leadership roles.
Another departure from the company is Jan Leike, who, along with Sutskever, was overseeing OpenAI’s Superalignment team. This team, formed in July, is focused on developing ways to manage "superintelligent" AI systems. It's reported that John Schulman, another OpenAI co-founder, will take over this role, and the team will be integrated more deeply across OpenAI’s research.
Sutskever's departure follows a period of internal conflict at OpenAI. Last November, Sutskever and OpenAI CTO Mira Murati expressed concerns about Altman’s behavior and the company's direction, leading to a failed attempt by the board to fire Altman. This decision led to a pledge by the majority of OpenAI employees, including Sutskever, to quit unless Altman was reinstated. After Altman's reinstatement, Sutskever did not return to work.
Sutskever, who has a doctorate in computer science and has made significant contributions to AI research, has not yet revealed his future plans. He left OpenAI with the belief that the company will build artificial general intelligence that is both safe and beneficial.
