--- title: "This Might Be the Reason OpenAI Fired Sam Altman" description: "A new report says that former OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's high-dollar side projects might have been the reason for his firing." date: "2023-11-20" modified: "2023-11-20" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/reason-openai-fired-sam-altman" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "OpenAI" tags: - "ai" - "OpenAI" - "sam altman" - "the digest" --- # This Might Be the Reason OpenAI Fired Sam Altman ![A new report says that former OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's high-dollar side projects might have been the reason for his firing.]() *\Image: Justin Sullivan via Getty / Futurism\* A warning to anyone with a penchant for side hustles: if you happen to be the CEO of the world's preeminent AI creator, your board might not be thrilled with your extracurricular activities. It's still unclear why Sam Altman, [OpenAI's recently-fired CEO](), was pushed out of the fast-rising Silicon Valley AI company that he's become more or less synonymous with. Altman was not only one of the AI maker's original founders, but its public face, making press-heavy splashes at the White House, [weirdly religious-sounding AI predictions](), and overall [leaning into his casting]() as the Oppenheimer of the burgeoning AI era. As such, his ouster was a surprise to pretty much everyone outside of OpenAI's [now-teetering]() board, including the vast majority of OpenAI employees, the CEO of the heavily OpenAI-invested Microsoft, and Altman himself. Upon Altman's firing, announced Friday, OpenAI released a fuzzy statement — [since updated]() — noting that a "deliberative review process" by the board had concluded that the charismatic leader was "not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities." It's incredibly vague, and one that's lent itself to intense speculation. Did the talk of not being "candid" mean Altman had lied to the company's governing body? And now, one feasible explanation may have floated to the surface. As [*Bloomberg* reports](), prior to his shocking expulsion Altman had been spending time in the Middle East raising funds for a new chip venture billed as a competitor to Nvidia — a high-dollar side project that sources say added extra pressure to an already-strained relationship. Per *Bloomberg*, Altman's side hustle, dubbed "Tigris," appears quite ambitious. Nvidia [has a chokehold on the semiconductor marketplace](), as its popular GPU chips remain the favorite among AI startups for their computing power; Altman, according to *Bloomberg*, wants to take some of that market share away from Nvidia by introducing his own lower-cost Tensor Processing Units, or TPUs, to the industry. This would not only stand to displace the market incumbent but would also give OpenAI more control over its production, likely making its products cheaper in the long run. While the imagined chip would theoretically lower production costs over time, though, the effort certainly wouldn't be cheap on the front end. According to *Bloomberg*, Altman is seeking tens of billions of dollars for the nascent venture from the likes of SoftBank, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, and Mubadala Investment Company. So, no small effort! And it's not just Tigris that the former OpenAI CEO — [who's already found employment at Microsoft]() — is said to be hunting down investors for. According to *Bloomberg*, Altman is also collaborating with legendary Apple designer Jony Ive on a secret-shrouded AI hardware effort, which he was actively pitching to potential funders in the Middle East in the run-up to his surprise firing. You'll notice a risky throughline between those side projects as well: they'd both be swimming in the same financial waters as OpenAI, with the chipmaker potentially selling its hardware and the Jony Ive one likely using its API. It may have been especially trepidatious timing for OpenAI's charismatic leader to be shopping his side hustles around, too. Per *Bloomberg*, OpenAI has been looking to clinch a delicate offer that "would let employees sell their shares at an $86 billion valuation." It could well have been that OpenAI's board feared that Altman's personal fundraising could disrupt the deal, or worse, garnered government scrutiny, especially considering the federal government's particular sensitivities around technologies like AI and chips. Again, though, this fundraising may only have been the final back-breaking straw. OpenAI has a fairly bizarre structure — it's a for-profit company controlled by a non-profit board, and over the past year, it's seemed that the company's non-profit "[open]()" roots have been [more challenged than ever](). As AI safety concerns loom larger, it seems that friction around these debates may have arisen *within* OpenAI. According to a [different *Bloomberg* report](), such friction was notably palpable between Altman and [OpenAI Chief Scientist and Geoffrey Hinton disciple Ilya Sutskever](). Sutskever reportedly felt that OpenAI, under Altman's leadership, was paying too little mind to safety standards and guardrails and recklessly charging ahead. These tensions reportedly reached an inflection point at OpenAI's recent DevDay; some of Altman's projections and promises concerned Sutskever, who then took his grievances to the board. It's not a new pattern for OpenAI, which has seen [major breakups in the past]() as a result of differing AI safety views. But interestingly enough, Sutskever himself has now backtracked, [declaring in a tweet]() today that he "deeply \[regrets\]" his "participation in the board's actions." "I never intended to harm OpenAI," he continued. "I love everything we've built together and I will do everything I can to reunite the company." Altman, for his part, [responded]() with three red heart emojis. **More on OpenAI:** [*Microsoft Immediately Hires Sam Altman after He’s Fired by OpenAI*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()