Meet OpenAI cofounder Ilya Sutskever. He supported, then regretted ousting Sam Altman

Jordan Hart,Aaron MokJan 14, 2024, 17:10 IST

Ilya Sutskever now says he regrets his role in arranging the ouster of now-former OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.AMIR COHEN/Reuters

Ilya Sutskever, chief scientist at OpenAI, has apologized for his role in Sam Altman's ousting.
Sutskever and Altman co-founded OpenAI in 2016 with the help of Elon Musk.

OpenAI's Ilya Sutskever — who cofounded OpenAI with Sam Altman in 2015 — played a role in kicking the now-former CEO out of the company.

The chief scientist is a member of the board that made the decision to fire Altman. The board had said that it "no longer has confidence" in Altman's ability to lead OpenAI, and said that he was "not consistently candid in his communications."

But a few days later, Sutskever expressed his remorse for being involved in ousting Altman. And he's now one of more than 600 OpenAI employees who signed an open letter threatening to quit unless the board resigns and re-appointes Altman as CEO.

"I deeply regret my participation in the board's actions," Sutskever said in an X post. "I never intended to harm OpenAI."

Here's how Sutskever went from working at Google to a leading role at OpenAI.

Ilya Sutskever was born in Soviet-era Russia in 1986.

Sutskever spent the first five years of his life in Russia. He's now 37.Galen Rowell/Getty Images

His family moved to Jerusalem when Sutskever was 5 years old.

Sutskever moved to Israel from Russia when he was just 5.Nick Brundle Photography/Getty Images

He studied with a "godfather of AI" as a graduate student at the University of Toronto.

Computer scientist and Google Brain Vice President Geoffrey Hinton, who's known as a "godfather of AI."Noah Berger/Associated Press

Sutskever, Krizhevsky, and Hinton authored the famous ImageNet white paper in 2012.

Sutskever coauthored a deep -learning paper in 2012 that was seen as a game-changer in AI. Alex Krizhevsky, Ilya Sutskever, Geoffrey E. Hinton

He began working at Google in 2013 after the company purchased his start-up.

Sutskever worked at Google for years before helping to found OpenAI.Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Elon Musk said he had a tough time recruiting Sutskever to cofound OpenAI.

Elon Musk convinced Sutskever to join the founding team of OpenAI. Chesnot via Getty Images

At the end of 2015, Ilya Sutskever cofounded OpenAI with ex-CEO Sam Altman

Sutskever cofounded OpenAi with Sam Altman in 2015.JACK GUEZ

In 2016, OpenAI developed the first of its large language models — which would later power ChatGPT.

OpenAI developed its generative AI language models under Sutskever's leadership. Justin Sullivan/Getty

Sutskever said he spends the bulk of his days working.

Sutskever said he leads a simple life of working and then going home. JACK GUEZ/Getty Images

Sutskever thought ChatGPT would be a flop when OpenAI launched the AI chatbot in November 2022.

Sutskever said he wasn't confident ChatGPT would be successful. FLORENCE LO/Reuters

Sutskever has always been vocal about the belief that AGI, or artificial general intelligence, is on the horizon.

Sutskever has sounded the alarm around the development of AGI. JACK GUEZ/Getty Images

In July, OpenAI launched a "Superalignment" team that aims to ensure that AGI aligns with human interest.

Sutskever started an AI safety team at OpenAI to ensure the technology is in the human interest. JACK GUEZ/Getty Images

In mid-November, OpenAI's board, which includes Sutskever, ousted ex-CEO Sam Altman from the company.

OpenAI's board, where Sutskever is a member, decided to oust ex-CEO Altman. OLIVIER DOULIERY/Getty Images

Sutskever hinted at possible tension building up between him and Altman.

Tensions reportedly brewed between Sutskever and Altman prior to the ex-CEO's ousting. JACK GUEZ/Getty Images

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