How OpenAI cemented its place on a rocky road in 2024

OpenAI had a challenging journey in marking itself as a prominent force in Artificial Intelligence. However, major milestones and other setbacks occurred for the company in 2024. 

This year, OpenAI went from a nonprofit to a for-profit company. It also had a big funding round. This happened because CEO Sam Altman returned to help save the company, as he had been removed a year before.

Nevertheless, OpenAI still has legal issues, such as lawsuits from a co-founder, Elon Musk, and major newspapers. Moreover, several key employees departed, including those who had been with OpenAI since its inception in 2015.

According to a report by Business Insider, OpenAI had a challenging rocky year.

xAI raises billions to take on OpenAI with Elon Musk

Financial Times reported in January that xAI was seeking to raise $6 billion, which had a valuation of $20 billion. Elon Musk founded xAI as a competitor to OpenAI, his co-founded company. He left the board of OpenAI back in 2018.

In February, OpenAI was valued at $80 billion

In February, the New York Times reported that OpenAI reached an $80 billion valuation, more than triple its previous value. A tender offer allowed workers to sell their shares.

Elon Musk sues Sam Altman and OpenAI

Musk filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, claiming that the organization had become a profit-focused subsidiary of Microsoft, which went against his original nonprofit mission.

In March, Altman and other executives responded in a blog. It shared that Musk wanted to merge OpenAI with Tesla himself to turn it into a for-profit.  In June, Musk dropped the lawsuit, but the case resurfaced in the fall.

SEC Investigation into Open AI was revealed

According to The Wall Street Journal, the SEC was also investigating whether OpenAI had misled investors. According to sources, the former board was the reason behind the investigation. He said that Altman was not “consistently candid in his communications.” 

Sam Altman came back to the OpenAI board in March

In March, OpenAI’s board voted to select “the right leaders for OpenAI”. The decision was “unanimously concluded” in favor of Altman and President Greg Brockman. Three new female members joined Altman back on the board.

In May, OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever left

In May, chief scientist Sutskever departed. He had previously attempted to oust Altman from the company, which he later regretted.

On X, he penned his farewell, predicting that in the years to come, OpenAI would build safe and beneficial AI.

OpenAI also removed ChatGPT’s ‘Sky’ voice

Soon after, OpenAI stopped using ChatGPT’s “Sky” voice after complaints that it sounded like Scarlett Johansson’s in the “Her” movie.  

When OpenAI used a similar voice to Johansson’s without her consent, she hired lawyers and revealed she was asked to voice ChatGPT but turned it down.

Safety criticism for OpenAI increased in the summer

The New York Times report in June also noted that employees were worried about OpenAI not doing enough to make sure its AI was safe.

In response, a spokesperson for the company told Business Insider about their safety commitments and an “anonymous integrity hotline” for employees to express their worries and concerns.

Furthermore, a report by Vox discussed that OpenAI also strictly enforced NDAs on employees who leave and a risk to their equity if they disagree. This further created PR challenges for Altman.

Apple announced the Integration of ChatGPT in June

In June, Apple said it would release its own ChatGPT version into the software through Siri. This partnership was a way for OpenAI API to iOS users, which has the potential to reach millions of iPhone users.

In August, Elon Musk filed a new lawsuit and added Microsoft as a defendant later

In August Musk filed another lawsuit , accusing OpenAI leaders of tricking him about the company’s objectives.

Last month, he added Microsoft and Reid Hoffman as defendants in a lawsuit alleging that they conspired to monopolize AI and pay excessive employee salaries. He also named Shivon Zilis, a former board member and the mother of his three children, in the suit.

In September, OpenAI Announced the shift towards for-profit

OpenAI, originally a nonprofit since 2015, said it would make its company for-profit within two years. It involves giving investors equity and earning government approvals.

This plan has faced criticism from figures such as Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk.

Murati announced stepping down as CTO

The Chief Technology Officer, Mira Murati, announced that she is leaving the company to work on personal projects. She had been involved in trying to oust Altman and had temporarily taken over as CEO before Altman returned.

President Gregg Brockman also returned in November after taking a long leave during August. Business Insider reported that at least nine notable employees recently left OpenAI, including co-founders Andrej Karpathy and John Schulman.

OpenAI raised $6.6 Billion in October

In October, OpenAI raised $6.6 billion, valued at $157 billion, placing it at the same level as Uber and AT&T. Major investors included Soft Bank, Tiger Global, Microsoft, and Nvidia, led by Thrive Capital.

OpenAI was also hit with allegations of legal data deletion in a lawsuit

According to the lawsuit, “OpenAI’s engineers erased all of the News Plaintiffs’ programs and search result data”  when it claimed the lawsuit with other newspapers like The New York Times. When asked about these allegations, OpenAI had nothing to say.

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