The relationship between Sam Altman and Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI’s co-founder and former chief scientist at the company, has long been turbulent. The pair were considered close collaborators, but parted ways in 2023 when Sutskever engineered Altman’s brief ousting as CEO. He later reversed course and called for Altman’s reinstatement, a move he described as a “Hail Mary” during his testimony yesterday (May 11) in the ongoing trial of Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI.
“I felt like if I didn’t do this, the company would be ruinedSutskever said of his decision to back away from the coup.
Altman, who was eventually reinstated as CEO of OpenAI, is now facing allegations from another co-founder, Musk. The trial in Oakland, California, stems from a lawsuit filed by Musk alleging that the company abandoned its original nonprofit mission in favor of for-profit incentives. Closing arguments are expected later this week. Musk is seeking to fire Altman and OpenAI President Greg Brockman, along with shifting up to $180 billion in damages from OpenAI’s for-profit arm to its nonprofit parent company.
Founded more than a decade ago by Altman, Musk, and a group of researchers, OpenAI quickly identified Sutskever as an early key hire. At the time, he was working at Google, but left the company — turning down a $6 million salary — to join the startup, he testified. Musk has since described Sutskever’s recruitment as “Axis“For the success of OpenAI.
Sutskever was born in Russia and raised in Israel, and later moved to Canada, where he studied under renowned artificial intelligence researcher Geoffrey Hinton at the University of Toronto. His work on AlexNet, a prominent neural network, helped him land a role at Google in 2013. He stayed there for two years before joining OpenAI as a research director, eventually becoming chief scientist and a member of the board of directors.
Early on, Sutskever was, and is said to have been, close to both Altman and Brockman He officiated Brockman’s 2019 wedding. But tensions increased over time. During his testimony, Sutskever said that in the year before the 2023 ouster, he began collecting evidence of what he viewed as Altman’s betrayal. It was such behavior.”It does not lead to any great goal“, including OpenAI’s mission to safely achieve artificial general intelligence.
On November 17, 2023, Sutskever and other members of the board of directors removed Altman as CEO. The fallout was immediate: Brockman resigned, Microsoft, then the largest investor in OpenAI, moved to hire Altman, and hundreds of employees threatened to quit. Sutskever later admitted the operation.”He seemed rushed“She signed a petition demanding Altman’s return days later. In separate testimony, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella described the episode as “Amateur cityHe said he never got a clear explanation for Altman’s dismissal.
During the chaotic five-day period, Sutskever said he avoided the Internet and was largely unaware of the unfolding developments, including Microsoft’s plans to bring on board Altman. He also testified that OpenAI’s board had been in talks with rival AI company Anthropic about a potential merger, though he said it “Not enthusiastic“By the idea.
After Altman was reinstated, Sutskever was removed from OpenAI’s board of directors and left the company in May 2024. He went on to found Safe Superintelligence, a secretive AI startup focused on developing advanced systems safely, which was recently valued at $32 billion in April of last year.
Despite his departure, Sutskever retains a significant stake in OpenAI. He testified that his shares, which were worth about $5 billion in November, are now worth about $7 billion. Meanwhile, Brockman revealed last week that his stake is worth around $30 billion.
OpenAI, now one of the world’s most valuable startups with a valuation of $852 billion, is gearing up for a highly anticipated initial public offering that could… It is said that it will take place in the second half of 2026. Although Sutskever is no longer officially associated with the company, his position as a major shareholder could still bring a significant windfall.
