--- title: "OpenAI’s New CEO Posted Edgelord Tweets About Rape and Nazis" description: "OpenAI's interim CEO, announced after cofounder Sam Altman was fired, seems to have made some really weird posts." date: "2023-11-20" modified: "2023-11-20" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/openai-ceo-edgelord-tweets" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "OpenAI" tags: - "OpenAI" - "sam altman" - "the digest" - "twitch" --- # OpenAI’s New CEO Posted Edgelord Tweets About Rape and Nazis ![OpenAI's interim CEO, announced after cofounder Sam Altman was fired, seems to have made some really weird posts.]() *\Image: Robin L. Marshall via Getty\* ## Edge Case OpenAI's latest interim CEO — announced after cofounder [Sam Altman was fired]() and chief technology officer [Mira Murati was appointed and then discharged]() from the role — seems to have made some *extremely* edgelordy posts. As British journalist [Chris Stokel-Walker pointed out]() on the platform formerly and perennially known as Twitter, the "OpenAI board appears to have skipped or sped up due diligence" on its newly-announced interim CEO Emmett Shear, a cofounder of Twitch who has an apparent penchant for posting edgelord takes. On paper, [Shear seems very much]() like the type of AI-anxious leader that the firm would want at its helm during its tumultuous leadership shakeup. He cofounded Twitch in 2008 and [sold it to Amazon in 2014](), and his [belief that AI may destroy humanity]() could jibe well with the OpenAI board's performatively concerned outlook on the technology that, [per insiders](), clashed with [Altman's AI accelerationism](). When it comes to tweeting, however, Shear's bona fides would make any cautious board nervous — and we're not talking about the distant past, either. In one August thread, for instance, he veered from mansplaining kink to [posting data](), for some reason, that "between 40-60% of women seem to have rape/non-consent fantasies" — a provocative topic after a few cocktails with friends, maybe, but almost certainly one about which tech execs should be sounding off on their main accounts. ## Poster's Gambit It gets worse, though. When someone posted an admittedly [dumb theoretical poll]() about whether one would prefer someone evil taking over the world or having all of humanity destroyed by AI, the Y Combinator alum did what every terminally-online guy does a few minutes into a thought experiment: invoke the Nazis. "The Nazis were very evil, but I'd rather the actual literal Nazis take over the world forever than flip a coin on the end of all value," [Shear tweeted](). To be clear, we don't think the 40-year-old Twitch cofounder believes that women have a deep desire to be raped or that Nazis are good. Nevertheless, it's a horrible look for someone who's leading the world's preeminent AI firm, even in an interim capacity, to be blasting off these galactic edgelord takes on main (just look at Elon Musk's [endless self-inflicted Twitter scandals]()). And it also makes us wonder what Shear says and believes in private — and how safe OpenAI will be in his hands. **More on OpenAI:** *[Microsoft Immediately Hires Sam Altman After He's Fired By OpenAI]()* ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()