OpenAI is the darling of the artificial intelligence (AI) world. Although the company had existed since 2015, it was little known outside the AI research circle. That changed in November 2022 when it released ChatGPT, a generative AI chatbot that you could engage in humanlike conversations.
It didn’t take long for ChatGPT to become the fastest-growing consumer internet app of all time. By January 2023, just a couple of months after its debut, it clocked 100 million active users.
ChatGPT’s viral success also drew investors to OpenAI, including Microsoft, which poured in over $10 billion, in the form of cash and cloud computing resources.
Then, on November 17, 2023, OpenAI’s board abruptly fired Sam Altman, the company’s well-liked CEO. This led to a flurry of activities over the next week. The first major development came from Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who announced that Altman and other top engineers will join Microsoft to lead a new AI research team.
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The same day, an overwhelming majority of OpenAI employees wrote an open letter, threatening to join Microsoft if the OpenAI board didn’t reinstate Altman. About a week later, in another surprising move, Altman was back at OpenAI as the CEO, heading a newly constituted board.
How would the tumultuous activities at OpenAI impact the notable AI company? More importantly, given OpenAI’s prominence in the AI space, could they have an impact on the larger AI sector as well?
Shaken industry confidence
According to Brian Sathianathan, co-founder, Iterate.ai, the activities of the last few weeks could result in OpenAI suffering setbacks in the enterprise space. The roller coaster ride could hurt its chances when it comes to enterprise adoption.
“In the last two weeks, enterprises have lost confidence in solutions like OpenAI, even though they may be technically viable and strong. They lack the testability that enterprises need, as these businesses require solutions that are stable, secure, and long-lasting,” believes Sathianathan.
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Even as OpenAI works to restore confidence with enterprises, Sathianathan believes it opens opportunities for other companies.
While OpenAI is mending its relationships, other AI platforms can pitch enterprises with solutions that, for instance, allow them to switch between multiple large language models (LLMs).
Boon or bane?
Altman has an overwhelming support of the engineers working at OpenAI, as a majority of them were ready to abandon ship. With Altman back at the helm it appears there wouldn’t be much (if any) brain drain at OpenAI.
But Andrea Marazzi, chief commercial officer, New Native, believes Sam’s return to OpenAI amid the organizational changes may not fully stem some potential loss of talent.
“This loss of expertise could delay refining existing models and hinder the creation of more sophisticated ones,” says Marazzi.
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He adds that the loss could also impact OpenAI’s strategic vision and ethical oversight. Importantly, he believes this could pose challenges to the responsible deployment of AI technologies.
Sathianathan however believes that Altman’s return could result in significant progress and acceleration in terms of R&D at OpenAI.
“Altman’s return to the company is the best outcome they could have achieved, and they have accomplished that,” says Sathianathan.
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While the events could pose challenges to OpenAI, our experts believe it’ll have no impact on the wider AI development across the industry.
“It should not slow down development. If anything, it draws attention to the importance of AI within large tech companies and its growing significance in new product development,” asserts Bundeep Rangar, CEO, Fineqia.
Read: Abu Dhabi University defines artificial intelligence (AI) as universal skill
He believes that while OpenAI’s recent organizational changes may cause subtle shifts in the trajectory of AI development, they could serve as catalysts for innovation.
“Other institutions and startups may step up to fill any voids created by these changes, thereby contributing to the continuous evolution of AI technologies,” says Rangar.
Marazzi agrees, saying that major industry players, such as Google, Amazon, and Meta, will continue to invest significantly in AI. “This could lead to an even further surge in R&D efforts, potentially diversifying and expanding the applications of AI across different domains,” says Marazzi.
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