John Schulman, co-founder of OpenAI, announced his departure from the company in a Monday post on X. Schulman will be joining Anthropic, an AI startup backed by Amazon, signaling a significant career shift.
This news comes after a report by The Information on August 5 that also disclosed that OpenAI’s product manager, Peter Deng, had left discreetly, and that president Greg Brockman had gone on a long leave.
On August 6, in a post on X (formerly Twitter), Schulman shared the reason behind his decision, saying that he wanted to dedicate more time to ‘AI alignment’ and practical coding at Anthropic.
Schulman also clarified that his decision was not based on disappointment with OpenAI’s support for alignment research but due to individual career aspirations.
Schulman was a major figure in the creation of OpenAI’s ChatGPT and was involved in the firm’s reinforcement training organization, which helps prepare AI models for compliance with human directives.
Schulman’s departure is significant as Anthropic, launched in 2021 by former OpenAI Vice President Dario Amodei and his sister Daniela, poses a major threat to the AI industry.
Schulman’s departure comes at a time when OpenAI is still in the middle of an ongoing controversy. A day before Schulman’s announcement, Tesla’s chief executive officer Elon Musk filed a fresh lawsuit against OpenAI and its chief executive officer Sam Altman for fraud. Musk claims that Altman tricked him into co-founding OpenAI to use his money and influence to advance Altman’s own goals.
John Schulman’s move to Anthropic highlights a dramatic shift in AI talent, reflecting growing competition in the industry. OpenAI’s leadership changes further underscore the evolving dynamics within top AI firms.
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