OpenAI’s Palace Intrigue Might Break Big Tech’s Hot New Toy

Look, if you don’t know what Hacker News is, I’ll bet what you’re probably thinking about OpenAI’s weekend leadership troubles: Who cares? If you’re familiar with the name Sam Altman at all, he probably seems to you like just another rich guy in a pile of tech moguls that dominate headlines these days.

But Altman’s Friday firing as CEO and chairman of OpenAI in a boardroom coup—even with the dramatic resolution announced by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on Sunday just before midnight on the west coast—is more than just Succession: AI Edition. It reflects a disruptive organization failing to understand how leadership matters just as much as tech.

Altman’s messy weekend began by finding out, with no advance notice, that he was getting canned. His top deputy, now-departed OpenAI President Greg Brockman, found out just before the news went public. (So did Microsoft, which is heavily invested in OpenAI. Other investors didn’t even get a courtesy call.)

Read more at The Daily Beast.