Emmett Shear: OpenAI's Third CEO in Three Days
Emmett Shear becomes OpenAI's third CEO in three days, stepping in to address a sudden leadership crisis As a tech entrepreneur, his appointment aims to salvage the company, while his stance on AI regulation and concerns about the future of artificial intelligence raise questions
A leadership crisis at OpenAI has resulted in a series of CEO changes, with tech entrepreneur Emmett Shear assuming the position on Monday. The sudden removal of former CEO Sam Altman by the board led to Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati taking on the role temporarily. As the situation unfolded, reminiscent of a "Game of Thrones" plot, concerns grew about Altman's future. However, by Monday morning, Altman had accepted a position at Microsoft, a major investor in OpenAI. Shear was then appointed as interim CEO while many OpenAI employees, including Murati, called for the board's resignation and threatened to join Altman at Microsoft.
The recent extraordinary events over the past 60 hours have sparked significant concerns about the future of OpenAI. As a company that operates with a unique hybrid structure as both a non-profit and for-profit organization, OpenAI made waves by introducing ChatGPT and igniting a global discussion surrounding the potential and risks of generative AIs.
Now, taking on the responsibility of piecing together the aftermath at OpenAI is Shear, the 40-year-old co-founder of Twitch, a prominent video-game live-streaming company. In an announcement on Monday, Shear revealed that he has accepted the role of interim CEO due to his belief in the immense importance of OpenAI's presence in the world.
Whether it can remain so depends on what Shear does next.
Salvaging OpenAI
Leaving Twitch earlier this year to care for his newborn son, Shear now steps in to lead a company that has suffered departures of key co-founders and senior employees, and is facing the potential loss of more. He will have the challenging task of dealing with a board team that initiated the crisis and apparently saw the collapse of OpenAI as a favorable outcome aligning with the company's mission.
While committing to investigate the circumstances surrounding Altmans dismissal, Shear must not only realign a reduced team and restore OpenAI's position as a prominent AI developer following Altmans departure, but also redefine the organization's identity within a global discussion on the risks and benefits of artificial intelligence and its regulation.
"I did not take the decision lightly," Shear stated in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, when the board shared the situation and asked me to take on the role. "If I had the ability, I felt obligated to assist."
Although Shear gained recognition for creating a social media company that was acquired by Amazon in 2014 for $970 million, he has now emerged as a prominent advocate on AI and his past writings and remarks provide insights into his management approach and views on the hazards of artificial intelligence.
A regulatory skeptic, except on AI?
A habitual advisor, the computer scientist, entrepreneur, and investor, who received his education from Yale, has been actively involved in mentoring emerging tech companies. Serving as a part-time partner at Y Combinator, the startup accelerator previously led by Altman, he has dedicated years to this role. While addressing a multitude of topics such as video games and science fiction books, he consistently imparts valuable business insights on X.
In a 2021 thread reflecting on the 10th anniversary of Twitch's launch, Shear shared 23 tweets summarizing his management lessons. He emphasized the importance of growth over profit for internet companies. Additionally, he explained that there are only five growth strategies available, and most likely, your product aligns with just one of them.
In recent podcast appearances, Shear seamlessly blended his passion for abstract thinking with vivid analogies to chess, Star Trek, and early human evolution. He used these comparisons to express his perspectives on AI, particularly in regard to artificial general intelligence. This advanced technology, which many AI researchers anticipate will evolve in the future, is considered the ultimate result of their work.
Shear, like many of his Silicon Valley counterparts, generally supports minimal regulation of technology to encourage innovation. However, he believes that in the case of AI, advancements will occur rapidly and autonomously, potentially surpassing human control.
"In the future, the technology we create will have the capability to continually improve itself," Shear expressed his concerns in June. "This self-improvement loop will become increasingly tighter and faster, which poses inherent dangers as intelligence is synonymous with power."
Concerns about an AI future
Even if artificial intelligence does not become smarter than human intelligence, Shear has argued, it could still wreak havoc in the same way that people can.
"Picture a scenario where 100,000 individuals, who are considered to be the most intelligent people you know, are operating at a speed that is 100 times faster than normal. Furthermore, imagine that these individuals are capable of instantaneously communicating with one another, almost as if they possess telepathic abilities," he mentioned back in September. "With such capabilities, these 100,000 individuals could effectively seize control of the entire world. They do not necessarily need to possess higher intellect compared to a typical human."
These perspectives appear to align with concerns regarding the safety of artificial intelligence, which allegedly played a role in the dismissal of Altman from the OpenAI board. However, Shear, on Sunday, refuted claims that Altman's firing was solely due to a disagreement on safety, stating that "their reasoning was completely different from that."
Nevertheless, Shears' perspectives have paved the way for OpenAI to embrace a more careful strategy in the post-Altman era, as Altman transitions to Microsoft. This development poses a new set of queries regarding how Shear will handle OpenAI's association with Microsoft. Both parties have expressed their continued commitment to one another, following a partnership that involved integrating OpenAI's technology into the Bing search engine and Microsoft making significant investments in OpenAI.
However, with Altman and his supporters now part of the Microsoft team, Shear, and whomever assumes the role of OpenAI's permanent CEO, might constantly find themselves in a lesser position.
