Anthropic, a rival of OpenAI, has been approached by the board of directors of OpenAI to discuss replacing their CEO, Sam Altman. However, this proposal was declined by Anthropic’s CEO, Dario Amodei. The Information reported this on Monday. OpenAI’s board member Adam D’Angelo declined to comment on the matter. In response to the news, Anthropic has appointed Emmett Shear as interim CEO. Meanwhile, Microsoft has taken on several key personnel from OpenAI as employees. This move has caused unrest within OpenAI, with many of its 700 employees threatening to quit and one of its board members resigning.
Anthropic was founded by former executives at OpenAI who left their previous employer in 2020 due to disagreements over the safe development and governance of AI. Since then, Anthropic has secured investments from Google and Amazon and its Claude AI models have gained prominence alongside OpenAI’s GPT series. Jeffrey Dastin, a correspondent for Reuters based in San Francisco who focuses on technology and artificial intelligence, had previously written about airlines and travel from the New York bureau and holds a degree in history from Yale University. He was part of a team that examined Amazon’s global lobbying efforts and earned him a SOPA Award in 2022.